Betting Odds
by AriesBalorPrincess
Summary: He plays in the NFL (National Football League) for the Carolina Panthers. She's the new team Doctor. Can they co-exist? AU story!
1. Chapter 1

_**I wasn't going to post this story yet, but it's been sitting in the doc manager forever waiting to be posted so I figured why not.**_

 _ **I don't own HoD or anything associated with HoD. I don't own or have any association with the NFL or the Carolina Panthers.**_

 _ **Major thanks to KSD17 for all the wonderful feedback with this chapter transforming it into something so much better.**_

 _ **I hope you all like this one. I'm not sure when I'll have the second chapter up for you all. Enjoy.**_

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Zoe stood by her car, her nerves starting to get the best of her. This is what she wanted. To be treated as an equal. She had every intention of going to school to be a heart surgeon like her father... Ethan but after a long fight with him he had slipped up and told her what her mother was too afraid to ever say. So not only had she taken the time to build a better relationship with Harley...her father but at the same time she switched to a different field. Sports medicine. And after months of convincing everyone she was rewarded with foreshadowing a doctor that dealt with various after school sports. This was new territory for her.

"You can do this. You've worked extra hard for this moment," she told herself straightening out her suit jacket and fixing her skirt. With a deep breath she walked across the parking lot, her heels echoing in her own ears, her heart pounding against her chest.

Wade sat with his boys making plans now that they had worked their asses off in the grueling sun all day training for their season to start up. With the way his muscles were feeling he knew that he was gonna need a few minutes in the ice bath but after that he was down to having fun with the guys. He had no one back home to worry about. He had a bad break up over the off season and he was looking for a little fun. He wasn't interested in another long term relationship right now.

"Yo Wade you with us?" Tyler asked with a chuckle. Wade looked outta his locker tossing his practice jersey in the bin to be washed.

"Hell yes," he replied digging his towel out. "Let me know when and what room," he told them shutting his locker.

"Hey guys," their coach yelled with an ear piercing whistle getting the team to quiet down to focus on the next words outta his mouth. "As you all know today was the last day for Dr. Lewis. I would like all of you to welcome our new doctor with kindness and respect. You will not belittle her," their coach warned them.

"It's a chick," one of them groaned.

"She best be a hot one," another guy commented getting his buddies to agree with him.

"She is sexy and single, right?" Wade asked with a smirk getting a few slaps on the back from the guys around him.

"That's the attitude that will get all of us in trouble," their coach sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Hey she's the one coming into our world. A world that revolves around guys," Tyler stated, getting a few yeah's in agreement.

"Just because our world is dominated by us guys doesn't mean she can't feel welcomed," Lavon spoke up for the first time. He didn't care what sex the doctor was as long as they knew what they were doing. Sure he like the rest of them liked Dr. Lewis; the dude was awesome and knew just as much about football as the rest of them did. He had easily become one of their buddies over the years he had been with them. But Dr. Lewis was ready to retire and enjoy the rest of his life and a guy couldn't fault him there. "Time's have changed. Who is she?" Lavon asked.

"Dr. Zoe Hart," Zoe said walking into the room. "Thank you for that wonderful welcome, Mr. Hayes" she told him.

"Whether I'm single or in a committed relationship has nothing to do with me being the doctor, Mr. Kinsella," she stated in a professional voice finding it hard to keep her eyes off of his bare chest. Not that she would do anything, she was here to work not play. "I've spent the last week going over each and every one of your files. Starting now I need the special team to stay after so I can get your physicals out of the way," she told them, going to her office to finish getting settled in.

"I'd like to apologize for them now. Some can be set in their ways. I was raised better than that. Welcome to the team Dr. Hart." Zoe gave him a smile.

"I know this won't be easy but I can overcome it," she told him trying to believe the very words that came from her mouth. She knew coming into a man dominated sport wasn't going to be easy and she was prepared to show them she was the best. "Thank you, Mr. Hayes. Is that all you need? I don't need you until tomorrow for your physical."

"Feel free to call me Lavon. Mr. Hayes is my Father," he told her with a huge grin. "It was and don't let what they say get to ya," he informed her.

"I'll try not to," she told him with a smile. She hadn't been left alone for long when someone else was standing in her office.

"You don't have any crazy rules or anythin' I need to sign for the ice bath do ya?" Wade asked with a smirk, towering over her desk.

"Oh yes a signup sheet, it's by the door," she replied sarcastically.

"A real comedienne you are," he huffed, walking to the door. He took one look over his shoulder. "This is why Dr. Lewis was so much better. He was cool with us just jumping into the ice," he replied with attitude. She rolled her eyes.

"Just go ahead. I'm not here to interrupt your normal activities after a long and hard training session," she informed him, giving his attitude right back.

Zoe had made it through the physicals with very little attitude from the players. Once alone with them she was able to see the true side of them, the sweet side they kept hidden from the other players. She was busy catching up with what Dr. Lewis had left for her when there was a knock on her office door. "Come in," she called, closing the folder she was reading through.

Wade stayed in the ice for around an hour before pulling himself outta the ice. Showering and getting his things ready to go after getting dressed. He was ready to head out and chill with the guys until he spotted the light was still on from the doc's office. His words to his buddies clear in his mind.

"I bet I can bed her within the first two months," Wade smirked.

"No you can't. She's a stuck up bitch," Tyler stated.

"She just needs a certain someone to remove the stick shoved up her ass," Wade stated.

"I'll take your bet. I wanna take your money and see you squirm," Ayer chuckled. It wasn't long before the rest followed suit.

Setting his bag on a bench he walked to the door that was slightly ajar and knocked. At the soft come in he pushed the door open, stepping into the room. "You aren't some crazy cyborg are you?" He joked, leaning against the bare wall laying his charm on the table.

"Oh no. I have a lot to catch up on, time slipped past me. Though I prefer being a cyborg than dealing with my Mother," she sighed putting the folders away.

"We all have that parent," he commented, thinking back to his dad. "I do wanna welcome ya to the team, the guys can be jerks. You hungry?" He asked. He really was trying to be friendly, even if he didn't wholeheartedly agree that she should be the team doctor. He couldn't help that she was attractive, and she had this effect on him that just happened to take his breath away and tie his stomach up into a ball of knots. He was having a hard time trying to control his thoughts on the things he would like to do to her. He would succeed in his little bet. That was certain.

"That sounds," she paused, chewing her lip. She wanted to go with him she did, but she was afraid to get too close to him. Having a fight with him in public wouldn't help her cause or help him in the slightest.

"It's just two people getting dinner on the way to becoming friends. We're gonna be working together at the very least we can be on the same page here," he explained, stuffing his hands into his pockets. He needed her to agree to this. He couldn't waste a single minute of the next 60 days.

"Put that way, I would like that," she told him with a soft smile.

They had ended up at a nice little place a few blocks away. Wade was the one to ask Zoe questions wanting to know more about her, acting like he cared. Everything about his life was on the internet that he was sure Zoe knew most everything about him. And he wasn't one to talk about himself anyway. Every now and again he would stumble upon an article that was nothing but lies. At those he would just chuckle and move on with his life.

Zoe took a sip of her red wine, licking her lips. "I know all your stats Wade," she told him. Wade hid his amused smile by taking a drink. Maybe getting the doctor to sleep with him wouldn't be so hard after all.

"Stalking me now are we?" He joked, placing his cup of scotch down on the table. Zoe rolled her eyes, a soft smile on her lips.

"I don't stalk anyone," she informed him. "That's part of the reason you asked me to join you, to know that if I know anything about the gridiron. I've been a fan all my life, Wade. I wouldn't just up and change my major from a heart surgeon to sports medicine without liking sports. I could tell you your stats, but they're all over the web and in the files on my desk."

"You caught me and the fact you called me out on it, shows me that you know the game," he smirked clearly impressed with her. The fact she knew the game made her that much more hotter and the desire to win that much better.

"Or it proves that I'm just trying to pull one over your eyes because now you won't ask me questions about the game," she replied with a smirk.

"You are one of a kind, Doc. But now I'm trying to decide if you know the game or not," he laughed, making sure to pour the right amount of charm into the air.

"I guess you'll learn as we go," she replied, sitting her wine glass down. "Now I don't like to believe everything that I read, so tell me about you Wade, why football?" She asked, digging into her food that was placed in front of her. She was clearly shocked that they were able to get along after their rocky start.

"I love the sport and it was one of the few things I was good at," he answered vaguely. The reason on why he got into football wasn't up for discussion right now. "Just drop it," he snapped. Zoe chewed her lip, swirling the red liquid around in her glass. It seemed they were right back where they had started.


	2. Chapter 2

The raging heat that the radiated from the big yellow ball of sun in the sky, had gotten her office rather stuffy and she couldn't take it any longer, that's how she came to be sitting outside in the stands, oversized sunglasses protecting her eyes as she watched the players on the field go over drills, files in hands. She did want to know everything that there was to know on the players, which was her job, to keep them healthy. She sat far enough back that she couldn't hear what was being said on the field.

"Told ya, I had this in the bag," Wade smirked, squeezing some water into his mouth as he rested on the ground. Before he had snapped at her he was having fun with her and for a moment he regretted ever making this bet with his buddies. He was able to see who she was outside of work and she had been fun, but the second he snapped at her he was reminded of the sudden heartbreak he had just went through and he needed to have a little fun in his life and he would be winning this bet.

"You got nothing," Tyler laughed, motioning with his head to the stands. Wade whipped his head in the direction that he knew the Doctor was sitting.

"What's he doing here?" Wade growled. Pretty boy Tucker was going to ruin everything for him. He knew nothing was going to happen between Zoe and Lavon, but George Tucker was a whole other story. He grew hot seeing how easily George was able to make her laugh and keep her beautiful smile on her face; he blamed the heat for making him feel uneasy watching the scene in front of him.

"Kinsella, Hutson, you two going to play or stand around and gossip like two teen girls?" Their coach asked them in a yell. With one last heated look filled with hate towards Tucker, Wade pulled his helmet on again, his eyes connecting with hers. He smiled watching as her face flushed a pink color. "Kinsella," the coach bellowed bringing Wade back to the present, tearing his gaze from Zoe and jogging back to the field.

"He's the reason, huh?" George asked, bringing Zoe's attention back to him. At first when she had rejected him on his offer to go out, he had assumed that she had a boyfriend elsewhere, but now watching the heated gaze between Doctor and player he understood what Lavon had been telling him. There was something in the air between the two of them, if only Wade wouldn't screw this one up.

"What?" Zoe asked confused, looking away from the field where Wade had ran back to. She had appreciated George coming to her and introducing himself as one the teams' lawyers.

"Funny thing is I've known Wade my whole life." That statement had taken her back.

"I don't understand what that has to do with anything, George," she told him. She liked Wade, she could see that he was hiding behind this wall and that it was easier for him to be this person he wasn't because he was protecting himself, from what, she wasn't sure about. She did want to know, she wanted to help him, but she was a doctor and it was in her to help people out.

"Just be careful when it comes to him. He's had a rocky past and things have only just now worked themselves out."

"I have no intention in getting myself mixed up with any of the players on that field, George. This is my work and not my personal playground. I know the boundaries to keep and the limits to stay away from. The most I'm going to be to any of them is a friend and that is all," Zoe told him, collected her things. "It was nice to meet you George," Zoe flashed him a smile and walked away, sending one last glance at the field before heading back inside to her stuffy office. Pushing open her window she was able to hear the calls, the grunts and each and every tackle that was made out there.

She barely had sat down when the assistant coach burst into her office. "We need ya Dr. Hart," he told her. Getting up with a worried expression on her face she headed to where the injured player was sitting.

"What happened?" Zoe asked seeing the bare and swollen left ankle of Colton Baxter.

"I kicked the ball and I went to tackle spinning wrong on my foot and went down. Is it bad?" He asked with a hiss trying to move his foot.

"I'm not sure until I can get a better look at it," Zoe told him. "But I don't think it's broken, possible just a sprain or better yet just a twisted ankle and you'll be better in no time," she flashed him a smile, getting what she was going to need.

He relaxed back into the little bed he was on as Dr. Hart carefully examined his foot and ankle. He couldn't remember the last time he had a doctor examine an injured body part and yet be so delicate. She had soft hands that roamed over his tender ankle. For the first time since she had walked through the door yesterday he was happy to have a woman doctor working for them. He could imagine the pain he would be feeling if Dr. Lewis was still there, the man had been good at his job and you felt very little pain when he looked over your injury but compared to Dr. Hart, it was like he didn't know what he was doing; he felt no extra pain with Dr. Hart looking over his injury and he was grateful for that.

"You're in luck," she told him with a smile, wrapping his ankle up tight. "Just a small sprain, ice it and keep it elevated for a while longer yet. Just relax," she told him, wrapping an ice pack around his ankle. "I'll be back shortly to check on your ankle," she told him, walking off. Colton nodded, and let his eyes drift shut. He didn't agree with what Wade was doing, using the friendly Doctor in such a way, now that he had a chance to see just how sweet she was, maybe he'd have a talk with Lavon and see if he could have a little chat with Wade. If there was one person on the team Wade listened to it was Lavon Hayes.

"What did golden boy Tucker want?" Wade asked the second Zoe walked into her office. She groaned to herself seeing him sitting in her chair with his feet propped up on her desk.

"I don't think that matter concerns you, Mr. Kinsella," she told him with a tight smile on her face. "Move your feet," she hissed through her teeth, shoving his feet from her desk. "Shouldn't you be out there on the field for practice?" She questioned, putting a few files away.

"I was told to come check on Baxter," Wade told her with a smug smirk.

"He'll be fine, it was nothing major," she told him, finding Colton Baxter's file to write up his injury report. "He'll be ready to play for the big game on Sunday," she confirmed for him, tapping her foot, needing him to move from her seat.

Wade walked to the door, hovering there for a moment, turning around to see Zoe was back at work, quickly typing something up on the computer. "I'm sorry about the abrupt end to dinner last night."

"Okay," Zoe told him glancing from the computer screen to him for a second. Lightly rapping on the metal frame with his knuckles he was gone. Zoe leaned back in her chair and watched the spot he was just in. She couldn't understand the way he thought. George's words about Wade having a rocky past spun around in her head, maybe she should give him the benefit of the doubt but there was something about Wade that made her want to put these walls up and break them down all at once. With a quick shake of her head, she got back to what she was doing. She still needed to get the examine room set up for the line of physicals that she would be doing on the defensive line today. "How are you feeling Colton?" Zoe asked, walking up to him and removing the wrap and ice.

"Better," he shrugged.

"Good," Zoe smiled at him. "It looks good; the swelling has gone down quite a bit. Just rest your foot tonight and take it easy tomorrow, I can always wrap your foot up for you tomorrow before practice if you want," Zoe offered him.

"Thanks for that, Dr. Hart," Colton told her with a smile of his own as he watched her rewrap his ankle up.

"You're welcome, but a little secret between the two of us, it's my job," she told him. "Remember to rest," she told him changing the joking tone in her voice to the strict Doctor tone.

"Will do," he assured her walking off with a slight limp. "Defensive line my office," she called walking into her office. She heard the grumblings and the groaning coming from the main part of the locker room.

One by one they entered her office wanting their physicals to be over with.

Lavon was sitting near Wade's locker when he walked out of the showers, a towel wrapped around his waist. "What do I owe this pleasure, Lavon?" Wade asked with an amused smile, pulling his clothes from his locker to get dressed. Lavon stared straight in front of himself watching the second hand tick around the clock as Wade got dressed and took a seat next to him on the benches. Lavon liked Zoe and as a friend to both of them, he didn't want to see either one of them get hurt over something so stupid and childish. Wade needed to man up and call this little bet off.

"We all make bets Wade, but making a bet on whether you can bed the Doctor is just ridiculous. We're not in school anymore," Lavon told him shaking his head at his friends actions. "Do the right thing and call this whole thing off," he pleaded with him.

"What's it to you?" Wade asked in a half snarl pulling his socks and shoes on.

"Wade I've been looking out for you as long as I can remember, we've been friends a long time now, I'm trying to look out for you now," Lavon explained with a soft sigh. "Who was the one that had your back in high school?" Lavon questioned him.

"For one year Lavon, don't forget that, you were there for one year and I had three more years to deal without you around. You had my back until you left and yeah sure you've got it now that we're on the same team, but the thing is you don't know what I'm feeling or what I'm doing," he hissed. "You need to stay out of my business," he snapped.

"But I know what's right and what's wrong. Do you?" Lavon asked, pushing himself up.

"You know as well as the rest of us that doing the right thing isn't always the right thing to do," Wade responded, getting up himself.

"That isn't the case now, is it?" Lavon asked taking a deep breath. "I don't want to see you hurt Wade or hurt anyone else because you were being stupid," Lavon finished walking away, leaving Wade to his thoughts.

Zoe frowned locking her office up to see Wade sitting in the now empty locker room. She walked to the door passing Wade in the process, she spun around his name on her lips, only he was no longer sitting there and she was the sole person in the locker room. With a soft sigh, she exited the locker room and walked the halls to the exit, where she got a glimpse of Wade walking out into the cooling air of the early evening. Stepping foot into the parking lot she allowed to see him driving off. The concern that had built up for Wade she had no choice but to push it away climbing into her own car, ready for her night to be over with.


	3. Chapter 3

The team had a free day to do as they pleased. Zoe had finished doing the physicals the day prior and she decided against sitting in her stuffy office to do nothing. While doing Wade's physical things weren't awkward they were tense more than anything else. Very few words had been spoken between them. Wade was still annoyed with George openly flirting with Zoe and he wanted to know what had been said between the two of them. George wouldn't tell me him when he approached him on the topic, he shook his head and walked off and that pissed Wade off greatly. Wade didn't how to approach the topic without making Zoe suspicious of him.

As for Zoe she wanted to keep things strictly professional between them, he was easy on the eyes and made her mouth water with just one little glance, but it was his attitude that had her backing off. She found it was hard to even be friends with him. Besides she was here to do her job not find a boyfriend who could possibly turn into a bitter ex and that wouldn't be fun to deal with. Besides wasn't there something against dating your co-workers?

"You still with me big Z?" Lavon asked with concern laced in his voice seeing Zoe had spaced out again. Lavon had offered to show Zoe around the town, considering Zoe had yet to leave her hotel room. The place she was going to be renting wasn't ready for her to move into for another week yet.

"Yes," Zoe answered pushing her thoughts of Wade away. "What were you saying?" She questioned with an innocent look on her face. Lavon chuckled, nudging her with his arm.

"I was asking if you wanted to find a place to eat," he repeated himself with a light chuckle.

"Oh, of course," she told him.

Walking another block they entered a little sandwich shop. After ordering their food and paying they found a table in the back as a way to keep from getting noticed. Lavon enjoyed spending time with his fans, but he enjoyed eating in peace even more.

"What's there to know about Dr. Zoe Hart?" Lavon asked, chasing his bite of food down with his soda.

"Not much," she told him. "Nothing like you," she smiled. "I still can't believe that you, Wade and George grew up in the same little town," she told him with that surprised look on her face. They spent the better part of the morning talking about Lavon because Zoe would keep the questions off of herself.

"The coach saw the chemistry between Wade and I and he had to have Wade on the team. As for George I'm not really sure how he was able to become our team lawyer, but it's pretty cool that it worked out that way," Lavon replied. Taking another bite, silence settled between them. A beat later Lavon broke that silence saying, "Zoe, I want to hear about you. I'm kinda tired of talking about myself," he chuckled.

"My life is all sorts of messed up," she sighed, picking at the bread that housed her sandwich. Lavon looked her at with a look filled with questions. "My mom lied to me and my dad about him being my dad. The second he found out he split. I didn't learn the truth for a few more years after that. That's why I'm not working in a hospital in New York, I changed the direction and sports medication was the furthest thing I could think of from heart surgeon," she replied softly, looking down.

"I'm really glad that you changed your major," he told her with a smile; getting one to spread across her lips even if it was a tiny one. "I'd hate to see who we would have gotten instead of you," he cringed just thinking of the possibilities. He liked having Zoe as the doctor, she was one of if not the best doctor he's had in his life.

"Thanks for that," she told him, looking up just in time to see Wade walk through the door with a few of the other players on the team. Wade had looked in her direction their eyes locking. She could feel her stomach start to tie up on her and watching the smirk grow on his face, she was suddenly not hungry any longer.

Lavon looked behind him to see why Zoe had suddenly grown quiet on him. Shaking his head, he gathered his things up before Wade could make his way to the table. He went to ask Zoe if she was ready to leave when Wade's voice had cut his thoughts off. "Hey Lavon, Doc," he said being polite, with a nod.

"Wade," Lavon greeted sending him a look to back off.

"Wade," Zoe told him getting up.

"I'll take that," Lavon said, taking her garbage before she had a chance to tell him he didn't have to. Lavon shot Wade a look and walked off. Zoe sighed looking at Wade.

"Is there something that you want?" Zoe asked after a long silent pause. She had scanned the room to see what was taking Lavon so long when she spotted him taking pictures and signing things for his fans.

"I've been a jerk to you these last few days; I want to make it up to you. Dinner tonight?" He asked, his hand going to rub the back of his neck, a nervous habit of his.

"I don't know, Wade," she sighed, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth.

"Please," he begged, reaching out for her hands. The current that sparked through her at his touch scared her. She had felt the same current the day she had to do his physical and that had been one of the only times she had been that nervous to do her job. "We need to find a balance here, Zoe." He had made an excellent point. They couldn't always be at each other's throats all the time. They did need to find a common ground.

"Ok," she sighed, giving in to him. "But this is your last chance Wade," she informed him.

"I got it, best behavior," he smiled. His easy going smile and calmed her down enough to give Wade the information on where she would be at.

The walk back to the hotel she had ignored Lavon and kept telling herself that tonight wasn't a date that no matter what she wasn't going to date any football players, no matter how hot they were. She wasn't going to let anything happen. The most she was going to be with Wade was friends; she couldn't let herself cross that line. She couldn't this was her job. Feelings needed to be left behind.

"Just be careful," Lavon told her, breaking her thoughts. She looked at him confused. "With Wade," he clarified for her. There was no way that he could come out and say that Wade had this bet going on that she was involved with. He couldn't be the person to tell her that. He really hoped that once Wade got to know her that he would see how stupid he was being and call the bet off, but he had his doubts.

"Why?" Zoe asked, suddenly feeling like she was doing the wrong thing in giving Wade this one last chance.

"He has a good heart, he does, but he goes about things wrong," Lavon sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "The rest is up to him to tell you, just be careful, okay?" Lavon questioned her.

"You're scaring me here, Lavon, but okay," she told him.

Wade had walked back over to his friends a smirk smugly in place. "It's all set," he simply told them, one step closer in winning this bet. He took his place unwrapping his sandwich. The guys' giving him looks, except Colton, they ate talking about the upcoming game and what they could do to improve on the field.

After they finished eating they decided to head back to one of their house's and play some video games.

Colton dropped back to walk next to Wade. They were far enough back from the other guys. "Why do it?" Colton asked. Wade looked at him lifting a shoulder up to shrug. "You don't have anything to prove and using Dr. Hart in this way, you're going to hurt her and you for that matter. Is sleeping with her worth keeping your reputation in tack, Wade?" He asked.

"I never said it was," Wade replied back. "It's harmless, Colt," Wade told him on the defensive about this whole thing.

"That's where you're wrong, Wade," he told him, catching up with the rest of them. Wade sighed slowing his pace down.

He knew no good could come from this bet. Zoe was pretty cool from what he knew. It wasn't that easy to take back a bet. He could come clean about it all, but he didn't want Zoe to hate him either. He needed to keep this act up around his friends; he couldn't let them see how damaged he was from his childhood. It was easy to be himself around Lavon and he was finding that he didn't have to pretend who he was around Zoe either and that sent panic through his veins. There was a connection between him and Zoe he could feel it, but he already messed up his chance for anything to happen between them, the second he came clean she was going to write him off and the second the bet was up she was going to hate him. He ruined whatever could be with Zoe before it ever had a chance, maybe it would be best if he stayed away from her.


	4. Chapter 4

Zoe had fussed with what she was going to wear. This wasn't a date; she was simply giving Wade his very last chance. Other than her family she never gave people more than one chance, there was something about Wade that pulled her in and wouldn't let her go. But no matter what she was done giving him chances, she wasn't going to let him play with her mind. One minute he would be cold and the next he would be hot and she didn't want to be the one on the receiving end any longer. There was something about him but his attitude made it hard to figure out what it that something really was.

"Here I thought you weren't going to show up," Zoe said pulling the door to her room open after checking who was on the other side.

"I was having second thoughts," Wade admitted, shoving his hands in his pockets. He really had thought about skipping out. But at the last minute he decided to visit someone and call the bet off. After thinking it through Lavon and Colton had gotten through to him. He wanted to have one more night with Zoe because it was only right that he tell her before someone else did.

"Oh," Zoe said defeated looking down. "You can go if that's what you want," she told him, stepping back to shut the door. She wasn't going to make him do anything that he didn't want to do.

"That's not what I want," he told her, blocking the path of the door.

"Then what do you want?" Zoe asked softly not meeting his eyes.

"I want to enjoy this night with you," he grinned seeing the blush crawl its way up her neck spreading over her cheeks.

"Then why are you having second thoughts?" Zoe asked moving to grab her bag, double checking on the short walk back to the door that she had everything.

"It's nothing important," he easily told her letting the lie roll off his tongue. There was no way that he wanted a door slammed in his face. It was coming, he wasn't stupid. "I hope you don't mind but there's this great little bar a few blocks from here and tonight is karaoke."

"That's fine," Zoe told him relieved that it wasn't somewhere expensive. Then that would have meant they saw tonight two different ways.

"Okay," Wade replied more out of habit than anything else. It was the one place he knew that none of his buddies from the team would be. He wasn't ashamed of being with Zoe; he was ashamed of himself for making such a childish and stupid bet. It wasn't for any other reason than to boost his own ego and now he was going to be faced to deal with the consequences of doing something so stupid.

They had let the noise from the cars and the people walking around them fill the void for them. It wasn't until the sat down and ordered that they had started to talk, making small talk while they waited for their food to arrive. "You and Lavon, huh?" Wade asked in a joking tone trying to cover up the seriousness to his little question.

"I could say the same thing about you and Lavon," she smirked. "But no he's just a good friend."

"Oh you've got jokes," he laughed. "He told ya about that, huh?"

"I think it's sweet that you guys grew up together and are now playing on the same team, not many people get that chance."

"He's been there for so many years to look out for me. I'm going to miss him when he decides to walk away from the game. It's only a matter of time," Wade said with a sad look in his eyes.

"What about you?" Zoe asked. "What do you plan on doing once you can no longer play the game?" She clarified for him.

"I'm not really sure," he told her. "I haven't really thought about it."

"You went to college what did you study while you were there?" She asked taking a sip of her drink.

"Business management," he told her looking down. "My life has always been about football but injuries happen so I had to pick something that at least held my interest."

"That's interesting," Zoe told him with a smile. She liked this Wade, this laid back easy going Wade. She was hoping that the other Wade, the I'm better than you Wade wouldn't make an appearance tonight.

They had let their chatter of talking about most everything fill the space between them as they ate, really getting to know each other. Zoe kept her questions away from his family. Every time a question came close to his family she could see him tense up and he would quickly change the topic. She did know that he had an older brother, but something had happened between them and he refused to talk about it, something was going on with his father but every time that subject was brought up he'd quickly turn the conversation back to Zoe. Tonight wasn't about making Wade uncomfortable it was to get to know each other, so those were the topics she would avoid for the both of them.

After what had been a fun night of botched songs by many they headed back to the hotel Zoe was staying at. Neither one of them had drank. Wade didn't want to be hung over at the final practice before the game on Sunday and Zoe didn't need her head to be pounding and throbbing any more than it normally is after dealing with a locker room filled with egotistical men.

"We should do this again," Zoe laughed, stopping at her hotel room door.

"Next week," Wade told her with a smile at her suggestion, he had fun with her tonight and he wouldn't mind doing it again some other time. "But you'll have to get up there and sing," he teased her.

"I don't think so, we're not all as smooth as you are," she joked back, digging in her purse for her key card.

"Johnny Cash is my man," Wade smirked, getting another laugh from Zoe and after tonight he loved hearing that sweet laugh come from her soft lips.

The truth about the bet, coming clean to her it was all there on his tongue waiting to be said, but he chickened out at the last possible minute and instead a good-night had been said to her as he stuffed his hands in his pockets as he walked off. The whole walk back to his place he cussed himself out for not telling her the truth, for making things worse with her when it did all come out in the open. But the more he got to know her the harder it was to tell her about what he had done because he didn't want to hurt her anymore than he had already done.


	5. Chapter 5

Zoe sat at her desk on that Sunday on game day, the cool breeze coming into her office courtesy of the open window, the coach's voice of his little pep talk floating in through the door she had left open a crack.

With the team mulling around walking past her office she didn't even pretend to be busy. She smiled when Lavon stuck his head into her office. She welcomed him in. He had questions to ask but they were about Wade and seeing his friend in such a good mood he wasn't about ready to ruin that so when Colton lightly knocked on the door Lavon excused himself, giving Zoe a wave as she wished him luck on the field.

"What can I do for you?" Zoe asked turning to Colton.

"I wanna make sure that my ankle is good," he told her worriedly. Zoe nodded showing him where to sit.

She looked over his ankle in silence giving Colton time to think his words over carefully. He didn't want Zoe to feel hurt or used to the point that she quits her job. Now that he had taken the chance to know her he didn't mind having Dr. Hart around. "Your ankle is perfect," she told him.

Colton nodded slipping his shoe back on. "Just so ya know Dr. Hart, not all of us want ya gone. It would be a shame if you ever left." He didn't have it in him to tell her about Wade. He hated that he had let someone he considered a friend put him in such a predicament.

"Um okay," Zoe replied very puzzled to what he was talking about.

Colton hopped down from the medical bed leaving a very confused Doctor behind. She wasn't left alone long.

"You alright Doc?" Wade asked seeing the confusion on her face.

"Uh yeah, can you be honest with me, Wade?" She asked walking across the room.

"Uh," Wade paused. He was freaking out that maybe someone told her about the stupid bet which he now regrets of ever making. He had only seen two people enter and exit her office today and Lavon wouldn't do that to him. He didn't think Colton would either, but he couldn't be so sure when it came to him. Just last night he was still on good terms with Zoe. They had texted most the day while she moved into her new place sooner than she had thought she was able to. "Sure," he dragged out, moving to lean on the back of one of the chairs in the room.

"I know you weren't a fan of me coming in here but I would like to think that we've made some headway on that and are now friends," she paused looking over at him. He nodded with a smile on his face to confirm she was right. "I know not everyone is still on board but I thought I was doing well. Is there still that strong dislike for me now as when I walked in here a little over a week ago now?"

"No, I don't think so," he told her. "They're starting to come around to the whole thing. It's something that doesn't bother them now. Pretty soon you'll be well liked by everyone," he smirked. "The day you came in here we were blindsided by it."

"Oh," was the only thing she could think of to say. What Colton told her and what Wade had just said made no sense. It was total polar opposites. She wouldn't think Colton would lie to her, she did see concern in his eyes. Maybe she was mistaken.

"Care to explain what this is all about?" Wade asked studying the doctor he had slowly befriended, his feelings starting to get to him where she was concerned.

"It's really nothing," she told him, waving away the concern more for his benefit than her own. He had a game that needed his full attention. She did not want to be the cause of his injury.

Wade gave her a funny look but let it go. He could see the worry behind her brown eyes. He was going to let it slide this once but after the game he would be figuring it out. She looked at him with a questioning look. He smirked shaking his head. "Don't even think about wishing me luck, I don't need it," he smirked, walking to the door he had shut when he entered the room.

"You're too damn cocky, Kinsella," she laughed.

"Damn straight," he replied back with a wink. It was Zoe's laughter that filled his ears and not the locker room talk around him as he moved through the players to his locker.

He cleared his head as he played the first half dominating the yards turning them into points. They were up 28-17 when the seconds ticked off the clock ending the first half. No injuries to their team had been made.

Wade was sitting on the bench in front of his locker when Lavon joined him. The pair of friends sat in silence unanswered questions swirled around them. "I want to tell her, I do but I can't hurt her like that," Wade sighed.

"You have to tell her. You can't build something real on a secret or a lie. She needs to hear it come from you or she may never trust you again. She's going to be hurt and she's gonna hate you, but it will hurt her helluva lot more if you are not the one to tell her," Lavon informed him.

"I know and I plan on it," Wade told him. He just wanted a few more days. He wasn't ready to give her up just yet. That was his problem he didn't think he would ever be ready to tell her and ruin this budding friendship.

After a team meeting and a talk from the coach the second half, the players retook the field.

Zoe had tended to a few players who had happened to tweak a muscle or two during the final minutes of the game. No one had gotten severely injured and she was thankful for that.

Zoe watched out her open door as the team filtered back in after winning the game 38-30. The team was on a high and it brought a smile to her face.

"What can I do for ya, Wade?" She asked, her eyes reading over his body. He was the one to come to her office in only his jeans, his hair still wet from the shower he had taken moments before, water drops leaving a trail on his smooth and tan skin.

"Do you think that maybe we can hang out tomorrow? I really gotta talk to ya about something," he asked, his left hand going to the back of his neck.

"I don't have anything planned tomorrow afternoon."

"Great, I'll be in touch," Wade told her walking away.

She wanted to worry about what it was he truly wanted but she was excited to spend a few hours with him. She really liked having him as a friend.


	6. Chapter 6

Wade had showed up at Zoe's place mid morning. She wasn't expecting him until later in the day. With having the day off she had spent a few hours getting things in order, so when he had showed up she was still in her pj's which consisted of shorts and a tank top. Wade couldn't keep from drooling. He didn't hear a single word Zoe said to him before disappearing in what he could only assume was her bedroom or maybe it was the bathroom, he wasn't sure which one it was.

He sat down on her couch, his head falling to his hands. He was going to tell Zoe today, he had to for her sake, but after he had one more day with her. He didn't see the point in ruining her whole day. A time machine would totally be awesome right now, that way he could go back and never say anything about a bet. This was real life and there was no way he could take his words back, he had to suck it up and deal with the bed he made for himself. It totally sucked, the one time he can see himself having fun in a friend kinda way with a woman, he has to go and open his mouth and fuck it up before he even gave himself the chance to know her.

"What is it you have in mind?" Zoe asked walking from her room showered and dressed in jeans a red tank top with a little black jacket, pulling Wade from his thoughts. He wasn't sure how long he had been sitting there but it felt like mere seconds.

"Uh figured we could explore the city, I don't have anything planned out," he informed her, getting up and stuffing his hands in his pockets. He squirmed under her intense stare. "What?" He asked nervously. "Do I look okay?" He asked looking down at his jeans and tee.

"It's not that," she told him with a small shake of her head. "Do you have something to say?" She asked, never once looking away from him. "You seem like you have something on your mind," she informed him.

"I won't lie to you, I do have something to tell you but you're not going to like it," he confessed. He didn't want to add a lie on top of the secret he was keeping from her that would only makes things worse for him and Zoe too. Zoe braced herself but remained quiet. Wade took a deep breath, this was it, this was going to be the moment he hurt her and ruined what they had built between themselves. He figured the longer he remained quiet the longer he was putting off hurting Zoe. Daring a glance at her he could see that she was slowly starting to lose her patients with him. "There's this bet," he finally blurted out.

"What kind of bet?" Zoe asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Dread pooled in the pit of her stomach.

"I did call of it off once I had gotten to know you," he told her instead.

"I asked you what kind of bet it was, Wade," Zoe repeated herself.

"That it would only take me a month to sleep with you," he told her ashamed with himself. "I'm sorry, truly sorry, Zoe. I didn't know you and I realized how big of a mistake it was." Hearing those words come flying out of Wade's mouth punched her right in the gut and she was having trouble trying to breath.

"But that don't matter, Wade, you made it and now I would like for you to leave," Zoe told him calmly getting her breathing back on track. On the inside she was fuming and wanted to start throwing things at him. She couldn't believe the nerve he had.

"I'm sorry," he told her walking to the door. "I really do wish I could take it back," he said, pausing at the door, hoping that she would change her mind that she would laugh this whole thing off and they could be friends and they could spend the day together. It wasn't going to happen he could see that.

"You can't, Wade and I'm afraid that there's not much you can do to fix it. You're not in high school anymore, bets like that are just childish and immature, you need to grow up and from here on out I'm just the team doctor to you," Zoe told him. "And if you're lucky maybe one day down the road we can try to be friends again. But you made a bet about me, a degrading one at that and you pretended to like me, how am I suppose to believe anything you say or ever trust you again after you lied to me about this?" She asked, her anger was starting to bubble up and the last thing she wanted to do was starting yelling at Wade. He deserved her anger, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing just how upset this made her, how badly it cut her for him to see her as only an object he could play with. She was no one's plaything.

"I know and I wasn't pretending to like you," he sighed, turning the door handle. "I'm truly sorry, Zoe," he told her disappearing through her door.

With Wade gone, Zoe fell onto the couch grabbing a pillow to hold to her chest and let the tears freely run down her cheeks. She had thought Wade was different. Rough around the edges, but once he let you in he was sweet. And for him to do this to her it blew her mind. The only other friend she had here was Lavon, but she was mad at him too. He was part of the team and she knew that he knew about this stupid little bet involving her, he could've gave her a heads up. He was friends with Wade and she had to wonder if that was part of the reason on why he didn't inform her.

Today she was going to spend her day off working to get over the hurt and pain that Wade had caused her drowning in movies and cookies and tomorrow she'd walk into work with a smile plastered on her face not letting what he had done show on her face and let them all know just how much it had impacted her.


	7. Chapter 7

"What are you doing here Lavon?" Zoe asked entering her office before the rest of the team showed up. She wanted to be within her office walls when Wade showed up, as much as she told herself that she could do this, to put this front on she didn't think it was going to be possible so she came in early with the hopes of avoiding him. The jury was still out on Lavon. Clearing the air with Lavon would do her some good.

"Wade informed me that he finally got his act together and told you. I'm…" She put her hand up not wanting to hear anymore the apology that was going to slip from his mouth.

"I don't want to hear it," she said cutting him off. "I want to move on from it. I really thought I could trust him and he had my trust in the palm of his hand and what does he do? He crushes it like it's nothing," she paused taking a deep breath after little outburst. Lavon had kept a neutral face. "I've got to wonder if there is anyone in this locker room I can trust. Can I trust you?" She asked finally moving from her closed door, walking across her office. "You've easily became one of my best friends here and I thought I could count on you."

"You can big Z. It would have hurt you more if I told you and not Wade. You needed to hear it come from Wade otherwise you'd never be able to forgive him. He didn't mean any harm by it and he realized his mistake. I'm not choosing you and I'm not choosing him," Lavon stated firmly. He could be friends with both of them and that was going to be final whether they liked it or not.

"I didn't ask you to choose me over him or vice versa, Lavon," she said closing her eyes. The whole situation not only stressed her out but it exhausted her. This job was about proving so much and not about a catalog of guys she could pick from.

"And yes you can trust me. Have I given you a reason not too?" Lavon asked.

"Other than this thing with Wade, no," she sighed her head falling to her arms that were crossed on her desk. "And it wasn't your place to tell me," she tacked on. As easy as it would be to blame Lavon and be angry at him it wasn't fair. This was on Wade, this was her battle with him and she couldn't put that on anyone but Wade.

"Zo try not to take this personal. His mouth gets away from him time to time. That filter we have he lacks that every now and again. And by no means forgive him, Lavon Hayes wants to see him squirm and work for your forgiveness." Leave it to Lavon to make her laugh just a little.

"No worries there. I don't even want to see his face right now. But I'll try," she informed him.

With things good between them they had made some plans for the next few days. Lavon didn't want her sitting at home in her little depressed bubble over this situation. He was going to succeed in getting Zoe past what Wade had done to her.

Wade not able to stand being by alone at his place came in early to get a little extra practice in and get his mind cleared out. He had ever intention of staying at home and missing the practice with a bottle in his hand, but that wasn't who he was. He wasn't going to let himself turn out like that, he was better than that and he'd find a way to get back into Zoe's good graces once again. He looked up hearing a door open; he was relieved to see that Zoe had a smile on her face after yesterday. He did want to go over there and talk to Zoe but he remained at his locker, she needed space and he knew that much. He sighed catching the glare Zoe sent him from the corner of her eye.

"How is she doing?" Wade asked walking to where Lavon was at.

"Pissed at you," Lavon chuckled. "Give her time and she'll come around. And Wade if you want to fix things between her ya need to let her come to you," he informed her.

"I know," he sighed. He shook his head, he had wanted her to come around for things to be good once again but he had to wonder if she would come around or if he had already ruined everything that was between them because of his own stupidity.

"You need to sort things out with yourself too dude," Lavon told him with a pat on the back. Wade looked over to where Zoe's office was at. Shaking his head he walked back over to get ready for practice to start. He promised himself that he'd focus on the game and let himself heal from his break up months ago; it was what he needed to do. He'd come back to Zoe when he was ready and when she was ready to fully forgive him.

Zoe sat her desk blankly looking at her computer screen that she had yet to turn on. She never looked up when she heard her door open. Seeing Wade had put her in this little funk and she couldn't get herself out of it. "If you're busy, I can come back," came Colton's uncertain voice. Zoe shook her head, taking a deep breath gaining her composure, looking over at Colton as he stood in her office on crutches.

"Uh no it's fine. Come on and let's have a look. Has it been causing you any pain?" She asked, pushing her chair away from her desk and getting up.

"There was a slight pain yesterday. I was out for a run and stepped down wrong and it twisted. I've had it wrapped up and ice kept on it, figured it would go away and it had for a while, but the pain is now like a dull throb," he told her, slipping onto the little hospital bed.

"Is that why you didn't go in?" She asked with a smile, one that wasn't forced or even fake, it was a real smile.

"I wanted the best doctor to look at it," he replied back. Zoe tensed up, her back to him. She could hear the playfulness in his voice and the last thing she wanted with Colton or anyone else was for there to be anything more than just a simple friendship. She had learned her lesson with Wade.

"I'm flattered really, but you shouldn't have waited," she scolded him, moving back over to exam his ankle, working in silence. "I'm afraid it's not good, Colton. You're going to need to wear this cast for then next 6 weeks," she told him, getting the cast on his foot.

With Colton taken care of Zoe went back to her desk and this time she turned her computer on. She was at work and it was time to let everything else go, hating Wade and sulking could wait until she got home. She had been so lost in her work that she jumped when she heard the banging of her door against the cement wall.

"What happened?" She asked in a panic jumping out of her chair, rushing over to the two men standing in the door way.


	8. Chapter 8

"He took a hard hit," Lavon vaguely explained. She really wanted to quip back with she could see that, but held her tongue and helped get Wade situated so she could look him over and see what was wrong. She may hate his guts right now, but she was the doctor and she could be a professional about this.

"Thank you, Lavon," Zoe told him quickly getting Wade's shirt and pads off. "Can you tell me where it hurts?" Zoe asked.

Moving just a little on his own a hiss escaped from between his clenched teeth. "My right side," he groaned out.

With saying very little Zoe got straight to work to figure out what was going on with him. Feeling his ribs and hearing the intake of breath as she lightly pressed against a few of them she knew that at least 1 of them was broken and a few others were cracked. She was going to need an x-ray to know for sure. "Must have been one hard hit, Wade," she told him softly. She wanted to curse at herself for still caring about him so much.

He looked at her his expression never changing. He was in pain but he wasn't about ready to let her see just how much pain he was in. But his eyes gave him away. He made no move to tell her just how hard the hit was, late hits happen in a game or practice in this case, he should have been ready for it but he wasn't. He was starting to wonder if he should ever be ready for a hit like they one he had just taken. But on the plus side of things he was able to get close to Zoe because this was her job and she couldn't turn him away. "What's the damage?" He groaned out, her intoxicating smell filling his senses to the brim as she wrapped his ribs up. He wanted to reach out and pull her close and let her know that everything was going to be okay, that he was a jackass but he learnt his lesson. But he didn't, he sat there keeping his hands to himself as she worked to wrap his ribs up.

"6 weeks for now and we'll go from there when I re-evaluate you. A broken rib and few cracked ones," she told him keeping things simple for him, moving to write a few things down in his file. "You need to rest," she informed him. She went and got him some pain killers. "Take as directed on the bottle. 2 every 4 to 6 hours," she told him, walking out of the room. She was trying to be professional with him, but being that close to him, made her heart ache for him. She wanted him to pay for the pain that he had caused her, but he didn't deserve the pain that he was in.

Wade slipped from his spot on the medical bed, grabbing his pads and jersey with a hiss. He walked into the main part of Zoe's office. There was so many things that he wanted to say to her, but one look from her he could see all the hurt and pain that he had caused and it pained him more than his ribs did. He nodded his head and left her alone. Everything he had to say to her stored away for a later date in time.

Zoe watched him go, she wanted to call him back but she wouldn't know what to say to him and things were going to be awkward enough between them. She was relieved that he had gotten a minor injury if only for the reason that now he wouldn't be around every day and she could really getting things sorted out. She didn't like that he was injured and she would have done just fine with him healthy, because she didn't wish bad things to happen to anyone, but this injury would heal and she felt bad for thinking in such a way. Shaking the thoughts from her head, she got busy making the right notes in Wade's file.

At the end of the day, Zoe packed her things up and headed out. The place was empty and smelt like stale sweat and she was more than happy when she stepped outside to take in the fresh air waiting for her. Reaching her car she unlocked the doors and tossed her things to the passenger seat. She decided that she didn't want to cook she went to get some take out. She was waiting for her food when she spotted Colton at one of the tables. She owed him an apology, she was taking some of the anger she had for Wade out on him and it wasn't right. She approached his table cautiously, telling herself she could do this, he was only trying to help her out and she had brushed him off.

"Dr. Hart, hello," he said, spotting her before she was at his table all the way.

"Colton hello, but please it's Zoe outside of the stadium," she told him with a warm smile. "I want to say I'm sorry for my actions earlier. I was mad at someone else and I was taking it out on you somewhat and that wasn't right, so I'm sorry," she told him.

"We all have bad days, Zoe," he told him, testing her name out and part of him felt weird calling her anything but Dr. Hart. "Apology accepted," he informed with a smile of his own. Zoe let a breath out she didn't even know she was holding. "Manners," he laughed at himself, "Zoe this is my wife, Lisa." Zoe looked to her right to see a very beautiful red head. "Lisa this is Dr. Zoe Hart, the team doctor," he finished greeting.

"Hello," Zoe said suddenly feeling even more awkward over everything. Colton wasn't flirting with her earlier, she had been reading the signs all wrong and she felt silly for ever thinking that he was trying to be anything but a friend.

"Hi," she greeted. "Colton's told me about you, I'm guessing from that look on your face he didn't mention that he had a wife," she teased.

"To be fair I never asked and the few meetings we've had have been about his ankle, strictly professional," Zoe told her wishing the floor would just swallow her whole.

"That's quite alright," Lisa told her waving it away. "We don't like there to be secrets in our marriage and he tells me everything, mostly word for word on the things that might be able to come back around and ruin what we have. Someone needs to make him see sense," she joked.

Zoe let a little laugh out. She relaxed hearing her order number being called. "I'm going to let you guys get back to your dinner," she told them, moving to walk off.

"Zoe, we should hang out when you have a chance. I know it's not easy moving to a new city without any friends and we can always use a girl friend." Zoe actually liked that now that she knew things would be okay between her and Lisa and she could really use a friend to talk about things with, one that wasn't so close to Wade.

"I'd like that," Zoe told her with a soft smile. They quickly exchanged numbers. With a wave Zoe walked off getting her food and heading home. The day may not have gone the way she would have liked it too, but it had ended on a good note.


	9. Chapter 9

A day of retail shopping was the perfect therapy session to help deal with all the drama in Zoe's life. Her head was still a mess from Wade; on top of that she had gotten a call from her ex-boyfriend asking for tickets to the game in a few days because he was going to be in town for his bachelor party. She told him no and he had the audacity to dangle sex in her face. She wasn't a hooker on a street corner. Then the icing to her already bad week her mother was going to be staying with her for a week because she had business to attend to. Like she really needed her mom to be hanging around and criticizing her on the job she had chosen. Candice had made it clear since the beginning that she didn't like the direction she went with her career, but she didn't care because she liked it. Shopping seemed to be the only cure for her.

"He's such a creep. How long did you two date?" Lisa asked over smoothies. Zoe had ranted and raved about the call from her ex the second she had met up with Lisa at the mall.

"Almost a year. He proposed, I declined." At that Lisa raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow at her, wanting the details. "He wanted me to choose him or my work. No guy is worth that ultimatum. I picked myself; there was no way I was giving up on everything I had strived to accomplish. I love what I do," Zoe told her. "It's been over a year since I declined his offer of doom," Zoe tacked on, knowing the question was going to come. She was over that, had been for a while now. And she thought she was ready to move on, that there could have been something with Wade if she would have let herself, but she was happy that she hadn't let herself get any deeper with Wade, not with what he had pulled. She didn't want to be crushed any deeper than she already was.

"He's still scum. Good for you on picking you over some guy," Lisa praised. Zoe hummed in agreement. "Has there been anyone since?"

"I thought there could be one but things didn't really pan out. He made a mistake and I'm not ready to forgive him for it yet," Zoe replied being as vague as she could when it came to what Wade had done. She wasn't ready to tell anyone what was going on there if they didn't already know. She really didn't want Wade to look like this bad guy because of one thing he had done. She had gotten to see the person he was away from the field, she could tell that it wasn't an act to get her to like him, she had gotten a glimpse at the real Wade and she had actually liked it until he went and pulled the wool over her eyes.

"We all make mistakes, part of being humans. The sooner you forgive him the more time you'll have together. Time is a precious gift, Zo," Lisa told her. The last thing she was looking for was a lecture, but she did want advice on what it was she was suppose to do when it came to Wade. And this was the closet she was going to get from an outsider's perspective.

Zoe sighed leaning back in the chair she was sitting in. Lisa studied her seeing that Zoe had something to say. "It's not that easy to forgive him, Lisa," Zoe sighed. "He used me because he didn't know who I was. He ruined the trust I had in him, for something totally stupid and childish," she explained just a little more.

"Do you miss him?" Zoe nodded her head. She really tried not to miss him but it couldn't be helped. He had dug his way under her skin. "Are you going to forgive him in time?" Once again Zoe nodded. "Then at least sit down and talk things through. Get everything off your chest. Think about it, Zo. What he did it doesn't matter, not if you can work past it."

Maybe Lisa was right about. But that's all she has done over the past few days, week even, is thought about this whole thing with Wade. At one point she had even thought about quitting at the end of the season and going elsewhere. But she would then tell herself that she wasn't a quitter and no matter what any member of the team said or did they weren't going to be able to scare her off. She had taken Lavon's words into consideration as well. She really didn't know what she wanted right now but forgiving Wade, she wasn't ready for that, not yet.

"I get what you're saying," Zoe said ready to end this topic of conversation because talking about Wade made her sad and upset and she didn't want to ruin her happy mood. "I'm not ready for that confrontation yet. I need to let myself heal."

"That's totally understandable," Lisa quickly agreed. "We have this party dinner once a week and you should come."

Zoe had tried to decline the offer but Lisa wasn't hearing of it and pulled Zoe off to find the perfect outfit to wear. Zoe had to admit that it sounded better than sitting alone in her apartment alone with her thoughts as her only company.

After finishing up in spending her future paychecks on really cute clothes, Zoe called it a day and headed home to relax before she had to go in for work in the morning.

The one thing she was missing sitting at her desk was hearing Wade's laughter fill her office from the main part of the locker room. Knowing that it really made it hard to pay attention to her work. Needing a moment to herself she snuck outside for some much needed fresh air. She sat on the nearest bench closing her eyes taking in the cool crisp fall day.

"Excuse me." Came a little girl's voice breaking her thoughts. Zoe looked at the little girl her green eyes sparkling, her brown hair pulled into a cute little ponytail. "Do you work here?" Zoe nodded her head, telling her that she did. "Do you happen to know Wade?" She asked.

Zoe gave her a smile trying to figure out just who she was to Wade. Not wanting it to bother her too much she let it go. "I do," she was in the process of saying.

"Good," she smiled. "I haven't seen him in a few weeks, and I miss him. Do you think its okay that I'm here to see him?" She asked with a mega watt smile. Zoe didn't want to take that smile off of her face. "Daddy told me he works here," she rambled on with. Hearing that Wade wasn't this little girl's father had her relaxing.

"I'm sorry but he's not here today," Zoe softly told her, watching her little face fall.

"Bianca, I told you to wait." Zoe looked up to see an older version of Wade waking her way. "I'm sorry if she was bugging you."

"She was fine," Zoe replied.

"This lady says Uncle Wade isn't here. But that can't be because he works here." The little girl Zoe learned was Bianca told her father.

"He got injured the other day in practice. He's at home resting up," Zoe filled them in before the guy could answer his daughter.

"Dr. Hart, we need you." Zoe got up.

"I'd either call him or drop by his place," Zoe told them.

"Thank you," the guy said. Zoe nodded and headed back inside.

After wrapping a wrist up, the rest of her day had flown by. Before she got a grip on what she was doing she was standing in front of Wade's door her knuckles lightly rapping on the wooden door. She had told herself that the only reason she was here was because she was the doctor and wanted to know how he was doing and a phone call wouldn't suffice because she had to know that he was getting all the rest he needed.

"Can I help you?" A leggy woman with multicolored hair asked pulling the door open.

"Uh I think I have the wrong place," Zoe told her, feeling her heart break just a little more seeing the woman standing there in what seemed to be a white guys shirt.

"Oh, maybe I can help. Who are you looking for?" She asked with a smile, making it hard to hate her when she was being so nice. She really did hope that she had gotten the doors mixed up considering she had never been to Wade's place before, he had only told her where it was he lived.

"Wade Kinsella. I wanted to check up with him and make sure that his ribs were healing," Zoe told her.

"You have the right place, but he's not in at the moment. I'll let him know you stopped by."

"Okay, thanks," Zoe told her walking away. A mix of relief and panic found its way to the pit of her stomach.

No matter how hard she tried she wasn't able to get the image of Wade and the woman out of her head. She was mad at herself for ever thinking that Wade was different than the rumors she had heard, she had tried to give him the benefit of the doubt but it seemed she was the one in the wrong once more. Maybe it was time to move on from whatever she thought she had with Wade.


	10. Chapter 10

Wade walked into his apartment his niece attached to his side. Wade had really wanted kids he had it all planned out when he was with his ex, he saw them getting married and having kids, she just thought differently. He had loved her and he thought she had loved him too and for the most part she did love him, it just wasn't enough. She couldn't deal with his schedule and she left saying that it wasn't working out for her and that she was sorry. It had devastated him greatly, but he kept packing his things for training camp. He knew when he lost a battle and he had when it came to her. He wasn't going to be put in the place where he had to choose between the woman he loved and the game he loved to play. If she couldn't handle it that was on her and it was for the best he let her walk away after being together for over a year. He hurt and it crushed him, but he had managed to get over her when Dr. Zoe Hart walked into his life. It was easier to act like he didn't want her around because there was something there the first time she walked through the door and he locked eyes with her, he could feel it in his bones. Making the bet was an easy way to get her out of his system, expect he had fallen deeper for the petite brunette. Going home to gain some space and some perspective on this situation he was in needed to be done.

"I have everything taken care of for you, your flight leaves tomorrow morning at 6," Mia said, walking out of the laundry room with a basket of clothes. "Thank you again for letting me use your washer and drier. I'm going to go insane before Tony gets mine fixed," she told them, walking to the door.

"It's totally fine," Wade told her. "Thank you for getting everything done for me," he said.

"Oh before I go, a woman stopped by looking for you. She wanted to see if your ribs were healing. I didn't get a name, but she was a short brunette," Mia explained. Wade nodded, knowing exactly who was at his door. It gave him hope that Zoe was trying to forgive him. She had come over to see him even if she was sticking with the excuse to check on his ribs. "She might be under the impression that we're fooling around," she cringed. Wade gave her a funny look. "I answered the door in only a white shirt that I had barrowed while my clothes were in the wash. Pasta sauce is a nightmare to deal with," she defended herself.

"Next time eat your food and don't wear it," Wade told her. "It's fine, I'll clear everything up with her when I talk to her next," Wade said, holding a sigh in. Knowing that piece of information he couldn't leave it until he got back into town. He'd have to either call her or stop over at her place. He didn't want to do either one of them when she had asked for space, but he couldn't let her think that he had something going on with his agent.

"Who is this mystery woman?" Jesse asked with an amused smile on his face after Mia left. Wade shook his head, grabbing a juice from the fridge. "Come on, you can tell me," Jesse prodded.

"She's the team Doctor," Wade sighed, opening the juice and handing it to Bianca. Jesse raised an eyebrow. "But it doesn't matter, because I messed everything up. I acted like an immature jerk and now she doesn't want anything to do with me," he said in a huff.

"Doesn't seem that way to me little brother," Jesse smirked. "She wouldn't stop by your place for no reason."

"She was doing her job, Jesse," Wade told him shaking his head, walking to his bedroom. "Despite what I may or may not feel for her, it can't happen because she's the team doctor." Wade didn't want to lose his job and he didn't want Zoe to get fired either. They could be friends but that was about it.

"Dr. Hart?" Bianca questioned, following her dad and her uncle. Wade looked at his niece a little confused. Jesse was quick to fill in the blanks.

"That'd be her," Wade mumbled, walking into his closet.

"You're an idiot, Wade," Jesse told him. "I don't remember the last time you were this so broken up about anything, including your break up months ago. Besides what doctor makes house calls after hours?"

Wade shook his head. "Zoe would because she cares about her patients, Jesse. That's something you don't know. My break up with Gabby was hard but I tried to focus on other things going on in my life. I grieved for the relationship and the friendship I had lost, but the more I look back at it, the more I can see that we were two people that had changed over the course of our relationship and I was only fooling myself with the forever crap because I didn't want to admit that things were over with her. I so badly wanted what you have, that I thought that it would fix the things that weren't right in my relationship with Gabby, but I was the one in the wrong," Wade explained, stepping from the closet to pack his suitcases.

"So what running home is going to solve the problems you have with this Doctor Zoe?" Jesse questioned "Because if you think that, you are dumber than I had ever thought, Wade. Running away isn't going to fix anything. You need to either call her and meet her somewhere or go to her place and talk things through." Wade went to speak but Jesse held his hand up. "Whatever excuse you're going to give me, I don't want to hear it. If she really wanted space from you, she wouldn't have been the one to come over here and use your ribs as an excuse to see you."

"Can I talk now?" Wade asked, moving around his room to double check that he had everything. Jesse nodded his head. "She's good at her job and she goes above and beyond to make sure we're good. I believe that she was only stopping by to check that my ribs were healing properly. I'm not running home, I'm going home to visit and to get my head on straight. Calling her or showing up at her place isn't going to fix anything not right now it isn't. She wants her space and I'm man enough to give her what she wants. She needs time to figure things out, just like I do. And being home doesn't give me the temptation to run to her house every night," he explained.

"Just promise me that you'll call her and that you'll talk to her about everything," Jesse pleaded with him.

With a sigh Wade nodded his head, telling Jesse, "I promise that I'll try, but I can't promise you that she'll listen to anything I have to say. Now I know you didn't come all the way here to criticize me and my actions as of late. So what's going on with you?" He asked.

"I had some news to tell ya, but now that you're coming home it can wait," Jesse smirked, ushering Bianca from the room.

"You and Suzanne are having a baby," Wade said with his own smirk following behind his brother. Jesse stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to face his little brother.

"How'd ya know?" Jesse asked eyeing him up.

"I can't tell ya that, big brother," Wade laughed stepping around Jesse, sending his niece a wink.

Bianca was more than excited that she was going to be a big sister and she was dying to tell someone and she had let it slip out when Jesse had left them alone for a few minutes. She couldn't hold the news in any longer. Wade had promised her that the secret was safe and he wouldn't let anyone know that he found out from her. Jesse was none the wiser when he returned to the table.

"Bianca Deborah Kinsella," Jesse warned.

"She didn't say anything to me about the new baby," Wade said, cutting Jesse off from punishing his little bumble bee. Seeing the question in Jesse's eyes Wade had no choice but to come up with an explanation. "You coming here is unusual, I figured you had some sort of big news for me. Now I know it's not you moving, you just moved back to Bluebell, so that was quickly crossed off the list. Secondly I thought that maybe you and Suzanne were getting a divorce but I talked to her shortly before you showed up at my door, things are really good between the two of you. And for months I can remember you going on and on about wanting another child, so it was a logical assumption to make."

"I guess," Jesse mumbled. "You do know that if Bianca would've told you, I wouldn't be mad at her, it is why we came here. But guess my shock came when that lovely Doctor informed us that you were injured."

"It's not a big deal," Wade shrugged. "I didn't want to worry anyone."

"We would've found out on Sunday," Jesse told him.

"And I would have cleared it up by then so none of you would've worried about me," Wade said grabbing his keys from the counter. "Make yourselves at home, but I'm going out for a bit," Wade told them.

He needed to be away from his brother for a few minutes. He hadn't planned on going anywhere, just a walk around the block. But it wasn't only Jesse's words that came to mind to haunt him on his journey but his own when he told himself that he was going to clear up who Mia was before going back home. He really didn't want Zoe to think less of him, to think that he was using her in any way, that he was exactly what the rumors were saying about him. At one point he was that guy, but after he got together with Gabby he changed for the better and he likes the guy he has changed into. He needed Zoe to know that she could trust him, that…that maybe he was being silly about this whole thing.

"Wade?" He heard being asked behind him. It was too late to turn around and go back home now. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, I know you want your space, but I have to clear something up. Can we go inside to talk?" He asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Uh sure," she told him.

Wade followed behind her into her apartment building and up to her apartment. He was sure that she was going to give him a lecture about not being at home and resting, but it never came. She hadn't said anything more. He stood by the door. She turned to look at him standing not far from him.

"I was told you stopped by my place and it's not what you think. I wasn't doing anything with Mia, well not what you think was going on," he started to say finding it hard to find the right words to use. He was nervous and that scared him, being nervous talking to Zoe was strange for him. He hadn't been this nervous to talk to the opposite sex since he was 12 and had a crush on Molly Sue. Shaking those thoughts from his mind, he continued on explaining. "Mia she's my agent. She was there to wash her clothes because her fiancé hasn't gotten around to fixing their washer. While she was there she booked a flight and got things arranged for me. I'm going back home for a few days."

"Why do care what it is I think you do on your free time or whom you do. Or why they happened to answer your door in nothing but a shirt?" Zoe asked, her jealousy over this whole thing coming out.

"She brought her dinner with her and she knocked it right into her lap, she had to toss her clothes into the wash so the sauce wouldn't set in and stain her clothes," he explained, ignoring the fact he could hear the jealousy in her voice and it gave him a little bit of hope that maybe things would be okay with them within time. "When I get back I would really like to see you and talk a few things out and try the best I can to fix this rift I put between us, is that okay?" He asked her.

"I'll think about it," Zoe told him, Wade nodded, he would take that. He was about ready to turn and reach for the door handle when her words stopped him. "How are the ribs?" She asked, not really wanting him to leave quite yet. She really had missed him; she could admit that much to herself.

"They're still a little sore," he answered. Zoe nodded her head. "Bye Doc," Wade told her pulling the door open.

"Bye Wade," she replied, "Remember to rest." Wade gave her a smile and disappeared through the door.

Wade headed back home ignoring the questions that Jesse had for him when he had returned home. There were a few things that he didn't have to tell his brother about and whatever was going on between himself and Zoe was going to stay that way until they figured it out themselves. He was going to respect the privacy that Zoe deserved to have.


	11. Chapter 11

Without his friends there home felt lonely, Wade decided as he walked through town square. He had talked to a few people; it was nothing worth stopping the news for. He found that his mind kept going back to a certain doctor. He had a while to wait until his dad was going to show up to keep his mind from going back to the one place he considered dangerous to go. He nodded at Wally as he entered the Rammer Jammer, a ghost of a smile forming on his lips. Memories of times pasted coming to mind.

"Wade, sorry to hear about your ribs," Wally said to him before his mind was able to go any further into the past.

"Nah, nothin' you coulda done about it," Wade told him, waving it off. "What happened to everyone?" Wade asked seeing that very few people were actually working.

"Most of 'em are juniors and seniors at the high school, not many people wanting to quit their jobs to come work here, but say," Wally smirked. Wade chuckled seeing where his former boss was going with his line of thoughts.

"I am injured Wally, but it doesn't state that I can't work behind the bar in my contract," he stated his laughter slowly dying out. "I'm only in town for a few days. Need to clear my head a bit," he confessed after a few silent moments.

"Whatcha do this time?" Earl asked, coming up from behind Wade to take a spot next to him at the bar. Wally got them something to drink and left father and son alone.

"Spoke before I really thought things through," Wade shrugged. "Ya know the same old me," he said taking a drink of his beer.

Earl didn't look impressed with his son so Wade explained everything that he had done wrong. Earl smacked him shaking his head ranting and raving about teaching him to respect women better than that.

"You will tell her how big of an idiot you are and invite her here to show her the real you, the non jackass you," Earl demanded him. "Your mother would be very upset with you if she ever found out."

"I know and once I get back I will, but I'm not inviting her to Bluebell." Earl gave him a stern look. "What good will come of it?"

"She'll see the man the rest of us see; here you're relaxed and not so intense. Why are you here and not there fixing things with her?" Earl asked only earning himself a shrug. "You care about her I can see it in your eyes, boy. Don't be a fool. One bad relationship doesn't mean they're all going to be that way."

"You're right," Wade said. Sitting in Bluebell with his dad wasn't doing him any good, he needed to be at Zoe's place fixing this mess he had created, it wasn't going to go away unless they talked about it, the longer they let it go the more it was going to wedge between them driving them further apart.

"Stop in and see your Ma or she'll skin your hide if ya don't," Earl told him with a chuckle.

There was no way he'd be able to leave without stopping in to see his mom not that he would even try. He loved his mom and spending any amount of time with her these days was amazing. He knew just how mad she'd be at him if he didn't stop in and see her real quick, he had made her upset and mad enough when he was a kid to last her a lifetime.

"You're an idiot," Jackie told him pulling him into a big hug. "But I love you," Jackie said, pushing over a plate of cookies when he walked into his childhood home.

"Gee mom thanks," Wade told her sarcastically. "I love you too," he told her kissing her cheek.

"Eat and explain things to me," she told him, pouring him a glass of milk. "I talked to your brother and when he refused to say what was really going on because Wade I'm your mother I know better than to think you coming home was for those injured ribs so I convinced that beautiful granddaughter of mine to explain things for me and boy she wouldn't shut up about this doctor named Zoe."

Wade laughed to himself hearing his mom explain just how sneaky she really was. Jesse wouldn't rat him out, they'd been through too much for that to ever happen. Bianca on the other hand wasn't old enough to keep things from Grandma when she was bribing her with cookies and other goodies. The only way out of this without getting himself into deep shit with his mom was to be honest with her. It was going to upset her but if she ever found out that he had lied to her about it, she'd be really pissed at him and she'd more than likely forget his birthday and forget to get him anything for Christmas like she had when he had been 17 and threw a party when they went out of town for the weekend and nearly burnt the house down. There were memories and keepsakes that had been lost in that small fire and she had refused to talk to him along with forgetting the holidays and his birthday as a punishment.

"I talked before I gave myself a chance to know the new team doctor who just so happens to be Zoe. I did something stupid and once I got to know her I felt bad for what I had done. I called it off and came clean to her about it. Dad already made me see that I need to go talk to her now and not later and that I am to invite her to Bluebell for dinner," Wade informed his mom.

"I raised you better, Wade," she told him sternly shaking her head. "You will make this right with Zoe. Do you know how much you not only hurt her but humiliated her in front of her colleagues?" She asked then, she really wanted to take her son over her knees and give him a whooping of a lifetime.

"I will make this right. Sadly I do know and I feel bad about it. At first I didn't think it would cause anyone harm but I was wrong," he told her, playing with a cookie. "I'm trying to make things right with her. Mom, I really like her," he told her coming clean with his feelings.

"Of course you do," she smiled warmly at him. "Nothing is wrong with that. But I'm with your father on this one. You will invite her here, I would like to see my future daughter," Jackie told him adamant on getting Zoe to Bluebell. She got up from the chair she was sitting in walking into the kitchen to get a tin.

"I don't know about that Ma," he told her. He didn't even know if Zoe would remain friends with him after this whole ordeal was over with let alone marry him one day and heck he didn't even know if Zoe was the one.

"Don't be silly," she told him, walking back into from the kitchen. "And when you go apologize to her, you will give her these cookies," Jackie told her son with a smile on her face. "And I will know if you ate them," she warned him, placing a dozen sugar cookies into a tin.

"Yes Ma'am," he said with a light chuckle. "Thanks for this," he said taking the tin of cookies from his mom.

"Don't screw up again," she warned kissing his cheek and hugging him. "Come back to visit when you have a little more time to do so before the season is over with," she told him, walking him to the door.

"I will and I'll bring Zoe," he told her seeing it was there on the tip of her tongue to say something about Zoe. At least he'd tried to bring her, if she'd forgive him and take his offer up on coming to Bluebell.

"Just be that charming you we all know," she told him.

Wade laughed, kissed her cheek and headed out to his parents garage where his car was stored at while he was away in Charlotte. He spend the next 8 hours driving so he could really get things worked out in his head so that way he wouldn't forget what it was he was going to say to her when he showed up at her front door.

The 8 hour drive left him getting into Charlotte long after the sun had went down. He built up the courage to stop in and see Zoe before going to his own place. He didn't think that she would be in bed yet, it was only a little after 9. Pulling up to the building Zoe lived in it took him a few minutes to gather his nerves and walk to the door and buzz himself in.

He was in luck when he got to the door an older lady was leaving and let him in wishing him luck in surprising his girl. He smiled and nodded his head at her telling her thanks going to the floor she lived on. He was still walking down the hall when he stopped in his tracks seeing Zoe's door open and a lanky guy step out of her apartment both of them smiling and laughing. He really felt like his heart had been crushed.


	12. Chapter 12

"Wade?" Zoe questioned, stopping him from walking away, moving away from Joel. She didn't even notice Joel once she had spotted Wade. After he had left her apartment yesterday she had drove herself crazy thinking about him, she wasn't trying to think about him it just happened. She was worried on how his ribs were healing up and her thoughts turned into her wondering how he was doing and what she would say to him when she did come face to face with him again.

"Hey Zo, if this is a bad time I can always come back," he told her walking closer, glancing between the guy and Zoe. Part of him wanted to feel bad for ruining whatever was going on with the two of them but all of him was ecstatic that he had ruined it. To him no guy was the right man for her even himself, not after what he had done.

"No it's fine, Joel was just leaving," she told him. "Just email it to me and I'll let you know," Zoe told Joel.

"Uh okay," he told her slightly confused on what was actually taking place. But nonetheless he walked away. It wasn't his place to get involved.

"From my mom," he told her, entering her apartment handing over the tin of cookies. With his hands free he stuffed them into his pockets. "I got into football when I was in high school to keep my anger at bay. It was the only thing I thought I was good at and when I told my parents I had no plans of going to college they kinda forced me into taking the football scholarship I was being offered. I hated it because I really didn't see myself playing ball as a career, but at the same time I didn't want to let them down," he blurted out, taking her by surprise. "She had gotten sick and for a while we didn't think she was going to make it and football was the only thing she was proud of me for. So even if I hate the game after she got better I stuck with it to make her happy," he tacked on.

"That's understandable, Wade, but they want you to do what makes you happy. They wanted you to go to college to get an education not stick to one thing. What are your dreams in life?" Zoe asked offering him a cookie. He gladly accepted one. He needed the time to think his words over while he chewed.

"What was uh Joel doing here?" He asked instead taking another bite of his cookie.

"He was writing an article for a local paper, he came over wanting an interview. I've known him for a few years now. He's trying to write a book but in the meantime he needs a job that will give him an income so he does a little freelance work that takes him all over the states," she explained. "If you're wondering no nothing is going on with Joel, he's a friend. Not that it matters to you," she told him a bit too harsh, having the need to inform him that nothing was going on. "Sorry."

"No I deserved that one," he told her. "I got my degree in business management," he told her. "Even I knew that I needed a fall back option," he proceeded to tell her taking another cookie.

"You want to own your own business?" She questioned him with a smile. "What kind?"

"I'm not really sure, I did love working at the Rammer Jammer when I was in high school and on my breaks and vacations when I was in college." She looked at him confused on what the Rammer Jammer was. "It's a bar and grill, the only one in Bluebell," he told her, with a smile seeing how cute she looked when she was confused "Didn't Lavon clue you in on how small of a town it was?" He asked, finishing off his cookie.

"He did, but I didn't really believe him," Zoe told him then. "You guys make the place seem tiny."

"It is, you should come home with me and see it for yourself," he told her smirking in his head on how easy it was to slip that into the conversation. "As friends of course," he tacked on to the end.

"I don't know about that Wade. There's still so much we need to talk about," she told him.

"We do and I'm not leaving here until we have it figured out because I hate this thing we have going on. I want to be apart of your life Zoe."

"Why'd you do it?" Zoe asked getting Wade something to drink.

"Look at you Zo, a guy would be nuts not to see how beautiful you are. I was stupid to even consider the bet but I didn't even think you would look at me if I didn't. I just wanted to have a little fun, nothing serious ya know?" He asked. "I know there were plenty of women I could have used but they weren't as sexy as you," he told her, this was the time to be completely honest with her and he had no plans of holding back. "I needed a little distraction and some fun in my life since my horrible break up."

"I should feel flattered that you think that about me," she told take a few minutes later to get her mind wrapped around everything he had told her. "Do you really think that little of me? I have never judged a person on appearance alone, it's the attitude and the way they treat others. Despite what you did I can still see that you have a good heart, I would have thought a lot more about you if you wouldn't have been stupid. Do you know how humiliating that was for me? How much it hurt? How little it made me feel?" She asked wiping the little tears away that had escaped. "Only for it all to be this game to you because you wanted a little fun in your life."

"I know it now and I'm sorry for all of it. I want to take it back. I messed up and I want to take it all back but I can't do that. All I can do is try to earn back the trust I had taken from you, I beg you not to shut me out, Zoe. We all make mistakes some bigger than others, it's in our nature."

"I hear what you're saying Wade, I just don't know if you can earn my trust back. What you did it was horrible, you were using me for your enjoyment, it's hard to forget that," she told him. Wade went to say something but Zoe cut him off. "You're right about making mistakes and deserving a second chance and this is the only one you're getting, because despite what you did I had come to enjoy the time and the friendship we built, but you need to understand that it's going to take time and things need to progress slowly Wade," she told him.

"I get that it's hard for you to trust me but I'll prove to you that you weren't wrong in doing so," he told her swearing on his life.

"If I can forgive my family for keeping a major lie from me, I think with time I can not only forgive you but learn to trust you again, but you have to handle with care," she informed him.

"I will," he told her, getting up from the spot at the counter he was perched at. "We are good again right?"

"I see no reason why we can't be," she told him, walking around the counter. "How are the ribs?" She asked the thought of his ribs hurting popping into her mind. She felt horrible that she had even forgotten about his injury.

"A little sore yet, but I'll be fine," he assured her. "I'm going to go," he said moving toward the door. "For the record I wasn't really curious about the whole you and Noel thing," he easily lied, because he was relieved to find out that nothing was going on with Zoe and this other guy.

"Sure," she told him with a soft giggle, holding the door open. "His name is Joel not Noel," she corrected him.

Wade shrugged his shoulders. It was good to see that he could not only make Zoe smile but laugh as well, showed him that he really was doing the right thing by coming here. "Night Doc," he said, turning from her to walk away with a grin on his face. There was no way he was going to mess up again not where Zoe was concerned and he was going to really think about what else was out there for him career wise.

"Night Wade," Zoe called after him. She waited for him to disappear around the corner before shutting and locking her door. For the first time in days she let herself smile. With time things with Wade would be okay.


	13. Chapter 13

"I hear that you've forgiven Wade," Lavon said before the big game that day.

"I did," Zoe told him, getting her things in order. "Do you have a problem with that?" She asked looking up from the folders in her hand.

"Nope, I'm okay with that. He needs more friends," Lavon answered her. "True friends like us," he added on. "Things really are good between the two of you then?"

"We talked and worked things out," Zoe answered him. "We've come to an understanding and have been able to start a real bond as friends. He knows what he did was wrong and he's sorry for it. I can't keep punishing him for doing that. I was enjoying my time with him and I want to be friends with him. I can easily look past what he had done." She hadn't meant to give Lavon a run down and explain her actions on why she had forgave Wade it just came out like that and she could hear that it sounded like she was defending her actions.

"I get it, Z, no need to defend your actions to me of all people," he told her, walking from the room letting her get things back in order.

She wasn't trying to defend her actions, just explain to Lavon that things with Wade were good and she didn't see the point in dragging out her forgiveness not only hurting Wade in the process but herself as well. That wasn't what she wanted and with Wade showing up at her door with cookies from his mom, it was hard to refuse him. She could overlook his mistake this once. The pain from not being friends with him outweighed the pain from his actions. She was hoping that one day she'd be able to look back at this period in her life and be able to laugh about it.

"Hardly working I see." She could hear the smirk in his voice. Looking up she sent him a friendly smile and motioned for him to enter.

"I'll let that comment go since I've been waiting on you," she informed him, getting the equipment that she needed set up as Wade pulled his shirt off. Taking the smallest little glance in his direction made her forget how to breathe.

"You ok Doc?" Wade questioned more than worried about her. Zoe nodded her head, regaining her regular breathing.

"I'm fine, you?" She asked putting her disposable latex gloves on.

"Pains bearable," he responded. "That is good, right?" He checked a moment later.

"Yes it is," she told him, carefully taking the wrap off his midsection.

"So can I play in the game today?" He asked with hopeful eyes once Zoe was done with her examine.

"Sadly no, Wade. It's too big of a risk to send you out in the game, you've still got a broken rib and the cracked ones they're barely healed. You go out in the game today, you're only risking your health and I can't allow that," she told him, pulling her gloves off to toss in the garbage.

"I get it, you've got my best interest at heart and maybe for once it'll be nice to sit on the sidelines and just watch the game, remember what it was I fell in love with about football and not that physical contact aspect of it that has kept me going," he told her getting to his feet.

"Have you done any thinking about your options after your football career?" Zoe asked, getting things cleaned up. It had been a few days since she had last talked to Wade.

"I'm not really sure, I know at some point I want a family of my own, I enjoy the time I have with Bianca," he told her. A family of his own has been on his mind more and more as of lately. He had thought he found the right woman to settle down with and when that hadn't happened he was lost on what he should do, but a family had always been there, it was just a matter of finding the right woman to love him the same way he loved her. "But the more I think about it, the more I realize that even though I was pushed into this life, it's not so bad after all. I do love playing the game and then there's you," he winked, walking out of the room leaving a flushed Zoe behind him. Friends flirted and he didn't see the harm in it.

"It's going to suck out there without you on the field," Benny said. "You've had my back for so many years out on the field and I think this is the only game I've played without you." They had joined the team the same year. Benny had worked hard and proved that he could be the starting quarterback. "You've always kept me safe out there."

"Dude, I appreciate that and everything, but you've got this. The other guys are good, better even. You my friend are going to be just fine without me," he told his friend. "Honestly it's going to suck sitting on the sideline watching the game," he said. He had meant what he said before to Zoe but that didn't mean he wanted to be there. The game was his life; he wanted to be out there playing.

"Thanks man," Benny said, pulling his helmet out of his locker. "Happy to have the old Wade coming back out, that other Wade you were trying to be was a jackass, I prefer the old one a helluva lot more," Benny commented walking off to leave Wade there in his thoughts.

He hadn't thought about it like that. He didn't even have to look back to know that he had been a jackass the last year or so. That he had changed for the wrong reasons, that he was letting his personal life affect him that much. Truth be told he liked the person he was changing back into as well and he had to thank the doc for that. She had helped him see that he was being a major ass. Shaking the thoughts from his mind he headed to the tunnel to join in with the pre-game huddle.

The longer the game went on the harder it was to sit still on the sideline. He loved watching his team play, but he was itching to be out there. There had been times that he had gotten frustrated with his own team. He had chatted and helped a few guys out when they weren't on the field playing. He had even kept a look out for Zoe, but she had been kept busy with a few injuries early on. None that were serious as they guys that went out came back and were ready to play again.

At halftime Wade tried to find Zoe as the rest of the team got the rest they needed and did whatever it was they needed to do before they had their halftime talk. But once again she was too busy talking with a few other doctors they had. He didn't really know them guys that well. He had always stuck to Dr. Lewis he had been the main doctor and then Dr. Hart when she came in.

The second half was just as intense as the first half had been. Wade had relaxed a little when they had went up by two touchdowns with only 3 minutes left to play in the game and they had the ball. He had moved over to where Zoe was at.

"Enjoying the game?" She asked him, watching the play on the field. She held her breath watching the ball fly through the air, the receiver catch the ball only for the ball to get stripped from his hands and the other team to come up with the ball.

"A little," Wade told her with a sigh. "It's been a bit intense." Zoe looked at him, as the offense came off the field and the defense hurried onto the field. "When I'm out there I have some kind of control on what happens so it makes it easier and now I have to watch it unfold," he explained a little better for her to understand.

"I guess that can be understandable," she told him.

They were able to stay in their spots and watch the final minutes in the game tick away without another injury. When the game clock hit zero Wade was able to fully relax with them winning the game. It may only be the second game of the season but so far they had been undefeated. He knew like everyone else did that they had a lot of games left to play and anything could happen but for now he wasn't going to worry about that, he was going to go celebrate with his friends and team on winning another game, even if it did feel a little bittersweet that they didn't need him to win the game.


	14. Chapter 14

Two weeks quickly passed and things between Wade and Zoe had almost returned to the way things had once been, they were friends again, in every sense of the word. Zoe found that the more time she spent with Wade outside of the stadium that it was easy to see just who he was under the surface and she liked that person. The little worries she did have about Wade were eased away.

Wade had shown up for every practice over the last 14 days and both games. He did what Zoe had limited him to do, each day she would add a little more, but it was frustrating for him because he wanted to be doing more and have a much bigger limit of the things he could be doing. He didn't see the harm and pushing himself a little more each day when Zoe wasn't keeping an eye on him.

"Ya know I think I'm good to play again, I have no pain, doc," he told her one day after practice as they ate their Chinese food. A few days out of the week they would grab a meal together and talk about whatever came to mind and in this case Wade was going to try his charm in winning Zoe over to let him into a practice so he could prove to her that he was ready to be on that field on game day.

"It's barely been three weeks, Wade. I will not let you go out there and hurt yourself worse," she told him in a strict voice, caring and worry for his well being laced throughout her words. Being his doctor came first, she could see that he was itching to be out on that field again, but she couldn't let him go out there as either his doctor or as his friend.

"I know," he sighed frustrated. He knew the risks in getting back on the field this early but he had to be out there. "I just want back in. I love the game and it sucks not being out there to help them," he told her defeated, all the charm he wanted to use went right out the door.

"If you rush back now, you could get hurt worse, Wade. You could suffer a career threatening injury at that, life threatening at that. Is that what you want?" She asked him. That wasn't what she wanted for him and she doubted that he wanted that for himself.

"Of course not," he sighed. "But…" he was in the process of saying when she cut him off. He was struggling to come up with anything to show Zoe that he could be out there. He was trying to win a losing battle, but he knew that when he started it. He just hoped that she had been able to see something else, that maybe his bones had magically healed faster than they should.

"But nothing," she told him, there was no way she was going to let him go out on the field and risk it. She cared about him as a friend and as a teammate. Her job not only as a doctor but as his friend was to keep him safe. "I'm doing what's best for everyone involved. You get that don't you?" She questioned, placing her chopsticks on her plate.

"Yes I get it," he told her. Just because he got it didn't mean he had to like the very idea of it. In fact he thought it sucked and if he thought it was possible to get away with it he'd sneak in a few practices when Zoe wasn't around, but like she had told him, he didn't want to risk it, football was his life and he needed to be healthy. "Doesn't mean I have to like it," he retorted with a small smirk.

"Of course not," she smirked. "We wouldn't have it any other way, Kinsella."

"You do get me, Doc," he laughed finishing off his food. "You know I'd like to keep the night going and all but you do have to get ready for your mom coming in tomorrow and I have my own family coming to town tonight so I'll see ya at practice tomorrow," he informed her. He came to the realization pretty early on that he enjoyed the time he spent with Zoe.

"That's if she actually shows up this time around," Zoe muttered under her breath. She didn't get a clear explanation on why her mom couldn't make it last time, just that she'd try to make it at a later date and honestly she wasn't expecting her mom to show up this time around either. "Is it your mom? Does she have those amazing cookies?" Zoe asked, wiping her mouth and getting up from the table all with a grin on her face. She loved the cookies that Jackie had made, they were some of her favorites, of course nothing was going to beat out her black and white cookies, but they did come close.

"Yes it's my mom and I don't know if she will or not. If she does, I'll make sure that I save you some," Wade chuckled with a promise.

Zoe smiled, hugging him tight. The urge to press her lips against his was there but she was able to refrain from doing so. Spending time with Wade was amazing and being friends with him was even better, but she was developing feelings for him that she couldn't keep away and those feelings scared her deeply.

With a small awkward goodbye they went there own ways. Zoe made one little stop on her way home. After her little run in with him earlier in the season she tried her hardest to keep her distance from him, it just didn't happen after he had came up and apologized for his actions. If she could give Wade a second chance she could give George another chance when George barely did anything to start off with.

"Zoe, what are you doing here? It's not a good time," he informed her. Zoe gave him a confused look. She was just about ready to ask him why when they had been joined by a third party and realization hit her.

"George, who's at the door?" The blonde woman who joined them at the door asked.

"Who is she?" Both women asked curiously.

"This is the team Doctor in charge Dr. Zoe Hart and this is my girlfriend Lemon Breeland, she's a former cheerleader for the Panthers," George introduced them. "Did you need something?"

"Uh yeah," Zoe told them, pushing her way into his place. "Why did you stop being a cheerleader?" Zoe asked making herself comfortable.

"Uh," Lemon said sharing a look with George before following suit and sitting on the couch across from where Zoe was sitting. "Personal reasons," she answered with. "What is it you're doing here?"

"Are you from Bluebell? Does that mean you know Wade?" Zoe asked stopping her little rambles.

"Kinsella?" Lemon questioned with an all too knowing smirk. Zoe nodded her head, chewing on her bottom lip. "What is it you want to know?" Lemon asked.

George wandered into the living room to make sure that they weren't in the middle of an argument, but seeing them in the middle of girl talk filled with laughter had him retreating from the room. He headed to his office to finish up with a few last minute files that had been sent to him.

"Hey man what's up?" Wade asked seeing that George was calling him.

"Thought I'd let you know that Zoe is over here," George told him holding back the grin on his face when Wade remained quiet.

"What is it you want me to do about it, Tucker? It's not like we're dating, she's free to do as she pleases, but you on the other hand," Wade was saying, his anger slowly building on the inside.

George only smirked hearing Wade talk. "You need to chill," George laughed. "Nothing's going on, at least not with me, she is in the middle of talking with Lemon about who knows what. I don't even know why she showed up here in the first place," he let Wade know. "Just thought you should know."

"Thanks for that," Wade muttered, his heart beat slowing down. Just the very thought of Zoe going to George not only angered him but it hurt. He thought he was proving to Zoe that he was better than he had led on to be. "I think you should be careful," Wade chuckled.

"Yeah no kidding," George muttered, looking up when he heard the soft knock on his office door. "I've got to let you go," he informed Wade. "What can I do for you Zoe?" George asked, ending the call with Wade after saying bye to his friend. "Is this about Wade?" Zoe shook her head, shutting the office door.

"This has nothing to do with Wade," she informed him. "Lemon is something isn't she?" Zoe questioned sitting down in one of the spare chairs in the office. George nodded with a smirk on his face. "I was wondering," Zoe was saying.

George leaned back in his chair and took in what Zoe was asking of him and nodded. He wasn't all that surprised at the request she was making, he just didn't know if he'd be able to do anything about it, but he was going to try.

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 **FYI I have no idea where this story is going, I'm letting it guide me, I know the final outcome but the rest I'm letting happen freely and not forcing things to go in any certain way and I had no plans of this chapter ending the way it does or what's really going to happen with Zoe next. As the writer I'm on the same level as everyone reading it, I'm simply on this ride with you all. Hope you guys liked this chapter! I have a poll on my profile page so please don't forget to head on over to my page to vote on the next story you want to see!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Remember if you haven't done so yet head on over to my profile page and vote! If you're on a phone and can't see the poll, I believe if you happen to change your phone from mobile to desktop view it will work for you. Anyway enjoy this chapter!**

 **FYI: This story is far from over yet!**

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"With the off week coming up, I was wondering if you wanted to take a little trip with me," Lavon suggested. Zoe eyed him up, remaining quiet. It wasn't like she had anything better to do over the weekend well she did but those plans could be put on hold until she was really ready to deal with it all and it would be nice not to be worried about work and running into Wade since she's had her little talk with George.

"I was wondering if I was going to see you again," Wade chuckled walking up to the two. "What's going on?"

"Here I am," she replied with a nervous chuckle. "Nothing but you know what Lavon, that sounds really good, let me know the details later, okay?" She asked, slowly walking backwards.

"Sure," Lavon told her confused on what was going on with her and Wade.

"Hey doc, watch out for that bush behind ya," Wade warned her the same time she tripped and landed in said bush with an oomph.

Zoe groaned to herself giving the guys a nervous smile as she got up and brushed any grass and dirt off. She quickly made her escape watching where it was she was going this time. It wasn't like she was trying to stay away from Wade except she was. She didn't want to tell him her news until she was certain on it and she had yet to hear back from George on all of it. It was hard enough to lie to Wade, not that she would and she was going to make sure she wasn't put in a place where she had to lie to him or keep things from him if he asked what was going on with her. She wasn't sure how much longer she could keep it up though.

"What's going on with you two?" Lavon asked once Zoe was out of sight. "I thought you had patched things up weeks ago."

"We did," Wade informed his friend, his eyes still focused on the spot where Zoe last was. "I have no idea what's going on, but I'm going to get to the bottom of it," he promised, going to walk off. If he couldn't get any answers from Zoe, he was going to talk to George and get all the information he could out of him.

"Just be careful," Lavon warned him. Wade nodded walking back to where Lavon was standing at.

"Details about what exactly, Lavon?" Wade asked him, remembering Lavon and Zoe were making plans for something.

"Oh I was making plans to go home and see my family over the next few days since it's our off week and I asked Zoe if she wanted to come with. There is room if you want to join us, I know you were planning on heading home yourself," Lavon suggested.

"That'd be good," Wade smirked. Ever since he's ma got sick and couldn't make it for this weekend, he had plans of going home to see how she was doing. He had a feeling that they weren't telling him the whole truth. Riding with Zoe and Lavon would be easier and he could get all the information he needed from Zoe because there was nowhere she could hide. "Just let me know the details once you've gotten them sorted out," he told his friend, walking off stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Walking from the parking lot to George's office hadn't taken him long at all. With the door slightly open he let himself in and sat behind George's desk waiting for him to notice he was there. "I wonder how much stuff I could take before ya notice I'm sitting here," Wade commented looking around the small office after waiting a few minutes and George was still none the wiser about his presence.

"What do you want Wade?" George asked turning from his computer to his friend.

"I want to know what Zoe talked to you about. Ever since that night she's been trying her damnedest to stay clear of me. What did you and Lemon and tell her?" He asked getting annoyed.

"I don't know what Lemon told her, I don't think it was anything bad and I can't tell you what I talked about with Zoe, full discloser," George informed him with a sigh.

"Is there anything you can tell me?" Wade asked, running a hand through his hair.

"You'd have to take it up with Zoe, if she wants you to know she's the one that needs to tell you, I can't do that to her," George explained. Wade sighed and got up.

"Easier said than done," Wade mumbled walking out of the office. How was he supposed to get any information out of Zoe if she wouldn't stick around him long enough? It really looked like he would be confronting her in front of Lavon. As good as that idea sounded, he didn't want to put her in that place especially if she was trying her hardest to keep everyone from finding out to begin with. He smirked seeing just the brunette he wanted to confront. "I don't bite, I don't have any diseases, at least that I know about and I thought things with us were good, so what's going on?" He asked, flinging his arm around her to keep her from taking off again. "I know it has something to do with George, what does he know that I don't?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she told him. Wade stopped them in their tracks and made Zoe turn to face him. She had been trying to calculate an escape plan in her head but everything she could come up with ended the same, Wade cornering her for the truth.

"You've been avoiding me, Zoe. I would like you to have some sort of decency to tell me if I did anything wrong to offend you," he told her. She shook her head.

"It has nothing to do with you. It's all on me," she told him. "I've got something major going on in my life and I'm trying to deal with that," she confessed.

"I'm here if you need someone," he told her with sincerity.

"I know," she whispered. "It's just my family. I had my own plans to deal with it this weekend and I stupidly agreed to go with Lavon and I don't even know where he's going," she sighed in her little ramble.

"Bluebell," Wade informed her. "And I was invited along as well. I was going to check up on my mom and it seemed better to hitch a ride with you and Lavon then drive by myself."

"In that case I can show you what's been on my mind and what I needed from George," Zoe told him with a small sigh of relief. Wade gave her a funny look, lost on what she was talking about. Who else in Bluebell did she know? "It's easier if I show you rather than tell you." He was informed.

"As long as things between us are good then I can wait to see what it is you have to show me," Wade told her with a smile.

"I'm sorry for being shady around you. I just didn't know how to tell you or want to lie to you about any of it," she confessed. "It's a big deal and I'm not sure what it is I'm going to do about it. George being a lawyer, I went to him to see if he could help me out. It's something that's been on mind for a while now and it finally got the best of me and I had to know, ya know?" She questioned him.

"I think so," he chuckled, trying to follow along with what it was she was telling him.

"Is your mom doing any better?" Zoe asked as they started to walk once again. She was still freaking out to let Wade in on what was going on, she had only told him so much about her past and now he was going to know even more about it and she wasn't sure how to feel about that other than scared and freaked out.

"They're telling me she's doing better still a little under the weather, but I have a gut feeling that isn't the case. It's like they're keeping something big from me," he said with a sad sigh.

"I'm sorry, that must be hard," she told him, placing a hand on his arm.

"It is," he told her. "How about your mom? Did she show up?" He asked stealing a glance from her to see a few different emotions pass through her face.

"She showed up alright, for about 3 hours on her way through. All I got was a lecture that I should be in a hospital in New York working and not for some sports team," Zoe explained with a sigh. She hated that her mom couldn't understand where it was she was coming from. She loved her job and she didn't think she could work in a hospital that knew Ethan just so they could judge her and talk about her behind her back.

Wade shook his head, he couldn't understand why Zoe's mother had to be like that and not support Zoe in what she was doing, because Zoe was damn good at her job and you could tell that Zoe loved what she was doing. "Bluebell will help get that stress from her to go away," he winked.

Zoe could only hope he was right about that. She did need something to take her mind far away from her mother but she didn't think Bluebell was going to be that place at all. Not after Wade finds out just why she's going there to begin with.


	16. Chapter 16

**This chapter kinda got away from me at some point. I've been trying to work on this one for a few days now and I still don't care much for it. I hope you guys can find something to like about it. Enjoy!**

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Zoe had been worried about being in a car with both Wade and Lavon for hours on end but it wasn't as bad as she had thought it would be. She was given the chance to find out more about both of them. She really liked hearing stories about Wade and Jesse. She had only meet Jesse once and that was for a few seconds, so it was nice to hear things about him. Her insides melted when he talked so tenderly about his niece. Hearing how he was with her made her mind shift into thoughts about having kids one day.

"You okay back there doc?" Wade asked turning in his seat to look at Zoe.

"Huh, what?" She asked, looking from the window to Wade.

"We're going to stop for a bite to eat, anywhere specific you want to stop at?" Wade asked with an eyebrow raised a concerned look on his face.

"Wherever is fine," she informed both of them. "What?" She asked turning back to see that Wade was still looking at her.

"You sure you're okay? You seem out of it?" Wade questioned her.

"It's nothing," she told him. She really had been enjoying her time with Lavon and Wade in the car, but she couldn't help the nerves that slowly crept up with what she was about to do. She had reasons on why she never told anyone too much about her past. Talking about the little things in her life was easy, but the major things like family, it was hard for a number of reasons.

"Okay," he told her skeptically. He didn't believe it for a second. Something was bothering her; he could see it was written on her face. He wanted to reach back and hold her and give her the comfort that it was going to be okay, but he couldn't do that, at least not now.

"What am I missing?" Lavon asked, pulling into a roadside diner for a late lunch. "It's like I'm being left out of something and Lavon Hayes doesn't like it," he stated matter-of-factly.

"It's nothing," Zoe repeated. The less people that knew the better she felt. She felt bad for keeping Lavon out of the on goings in her life, but she had Wade's support and oddly enough she had found that was all the comfort she really needed right now. She wanted to tell Lavon, but she was stopping herself from doing so. The last thing she wanted was for another person to judge her, she doubted Lavon would do such a thing but she refused to put him in a place to give him a chance in doing so. She felt like it was best if she kept things to herself until she had dealt with things on her own. But on a more positive note she was really looking forward to who she was going to be seeing once again.

"You excited to see Bluebell?" Lavon asked once they had their food. She was sitting next to Wade with Lavon sitting in the middle of the booth on the other side of the table.

"Oh yeah, you two have made it seem like the most wonderful slice of blueberry pie," she smiled, using the best southern accent she could muster.

"No need to mock, doc," Wade laughed, nudging her slightly. "But seriously?" He questioned taking a drink of his cola.

"A little," she replied, swallowing the bite of food that was in her mouth. Wade looking away from her could see that there was more going on and he really wanted to get the bottom of things with her. "I can picture the little town with the way you two are always talking about it. If one of you forgets to tell me something about it the other one does. It's like I've been there more than once," she smiled.

"As you should," Lavon chuckled.

"What were your original plans?" Wade asked, picking a fry up to eat.

"What plans?" Lavon asked shocked looking at Zoe over his burger.

"Just plans I had made to go see my dad. But he understands and he wasn't to mad about any of it," Zoe informed them. It was hard to be mad when she was going to show up there in the first place.

"Now Lavon feels bad, I didn't want you to cancel plans you had made with your father to come along," he informed her. "I would've understood. I just didn't think you had anything better to do since you're still somewhat new to town and have no family there," he explained the best way he could without hurting her feelings.

"I get it Lavon and really its okay. We came to an understanding and everything works out for both of us," Zoe assured him. She really didn't want him to feel bad about something that was going to happen in the first place, not her going to Bluebell but her seeing her father. Her real father, the one she had missed out on when she was little and growing up because her mom thought it was best for her and gave her a dad that once he found out the truth took off making Zoe feel like she wasn't loved.

"If you're sure," Lavon sighed, eyeing her carefully. Zoe nodded her head and Lavon dropped it, letting her win.

That topic was dropped when Zoe asked them what they were going to do when the got to town. They both had the same answer; they were going home to see their families. Wade had offered Zoe to stay with him in his little place he had when he was back home. She felt weird about staying with him and she did plan on staying with her dad to begin with. She laughed softly once he informed her that his place had a guest bedroom. She shook her head and told him she'd think about it. That was good enough for Wade.

The last part of the ride had been filled with more stories and this time Zoe jumped in and shared a few of her own memories from her childhood. But the closer they got to Bluebell the quieter Zoe got. Wade had made sure to sit in the back with Zoe when they had stopped to fill the tank up. He could clearly see her nerves were out to play about whatever she was up to on her face. He was worried about what he was going to find when he showed up at his parents place but thinking about what Zoe was going to tell him kept his mind from wondering into the bad things with his mom and that was a distraction he was happy to have.

He was pleasantly shocked when Zoe's hand latched onto his when they were just a few miles from Bluebell. "You sure you're okay?" Wade softly whispered moving closer so she was the only one that could hear him.

"Yes, no, maybe," she whispered back with a soft sigh. She was happy to be going to her father's hometown, to see him again; it was just what was going to happen after the little reunion, on the real reason on what she needed from George. That was the part that scared her.

He really wasn't sure what he could say to ease her mind. Telling her things were going to be okay and that they would work out, somehow they just didn't seemed to be good enough, he felt like if he told either one of those things that he would be lying to her and he had promised her and himself that he wouldn't lie to her because he couldn't hurt her again. So staying quiet and holding her hand giving her even an ounce of comfort seemed like the best option for him.

Pulling into Bluebell it was early evening. After making sure that Wade and Zoe were going to be okay, Lavon left them be and headed on his way to see his parents. "You don't have to come with me," she informed Wade.

"Nonsense," Wade remarked, leading Zoe into his place. "You can leave your things here until you figure out where you're going to be staying. I don't think you really want to be carrying around your luggage," he explained a little further. It made sense; she really didn't want to haul her bags with her. "Where we headed?" Wade asked, after he tossed their bags in his front door.

"Umm," Zoe said, digging in her purse to pull out the address she needed. "I was actually meeting him in Georgia for the weekend," she informed him, needing to say something, pulling the piece of paper out.

"What changed?" Wade asked, reading the address. "We're not far at all," he smirked, walking off leaving Zoe to follow him.

"I found out I was coming here," she told him in a duh tone. "We've been over that," she said, nearly running into Wade when he stopped suddenly.

"Here you are, want me to come with you?" Wade asked looking over at her. She looked between the house she was at and Wade's place that was just across the street.

"I did owe you a reason and the only way to do so was by showing you, so come on, but you do know that I'm going to be with you when you go to find out what's going on with your mom," she told him in a more demanding tone. He gave her a smile happy and relieved to hear that she wanted to come with him. He was sure he was going to need a friend when he was told.

"Lead the way, Doc," Wade told her. Zoe rolled her eyes and walked up the walkway. Just like that she was at the front door, pushing the button for the doorbell. Her nervous where pushed down when the door was pulled open and a grin over took her face.

"I was starting to think you had gotten lost and I need to find a search party," he laughed, pulling Zoe in for a hug. It had been too long since he had last seen his daughter.

"Harley?" Wade questioned in shock, standing on the doorstep. "Dr. Harley Wilkes?"

"That'd be me," he laughed, ushering the two of them inside his house. "You didn't tell him?" Harley asked raising an eyebrow looking at Zoe.

"No," she replied shaking her head. "I really didn't know how well you guys knew each other," Zoe confirmed.

"How?" Wade muttered.

Harley laughed telling his daughter and his guest to have a seat while he got them something to drink. He made sure to give Zoe a pointed look before walking into the kitchen. Zoe led Wade over to the couch in the living room.

"There's more than one town doctor and after Harley moved to be closer to me and the stories he's told me, I didn't put them together and by the time I did I figured I'd rather surprise you, I did tell you it was easier to show you rather than tell you," she quickly explained. "Once I had found out about him, I called him because I wanted to know who he was and how he would be able to fit into my life. I was more than happy to learn that I had a father out there that wanted to be a part of my life and after sometime, he just moved to be closer to me. It took nearly a year for that but he would come and visit because I was busy with school," she explained the best way she could.

"So is that what you needed George for?" Wade asked. "I was always curious on why Harley just took off. I didn't get why he had to move away for when his whole life was here, but now I see that his life was somewhere else," Wade commented. He could understand that to a point because he liked to think he would do the same thing if he was ever in that kind of predicament.

"Yeah," Zoe said looking down, feeling bad that she had taken her father away from his family and friends and the fact that she was now keeping things from Wade. "Uh no, this isn't what I needed George for, but it does have something to do with my dad," Zoe clued him in that much more. Wade shot her a look just as Harley walked back into the room, handing them both a glass of lemonade. "I didn't know you moved back," Wade commented.

"It's been in the works for a while now," Harley commented. "It was just time with Zoe moving to Charlotte for work, I had no reason to stay in the city. Besides I'm getting ready to retire and Bluebell has always been home," he smiled.

"Right, like you'll be able to retire, we both know that you'll still be at the practice once or twice a day," Zoe commented with a smile, getting a laugh from her father.

"Maybe so but have you thought about what I told you?" Harley questioned. Zoe shook her head. She still didn't know for certain what it was she wanted to do. One thing was for sure, sports medicine was her passion and she didn't want to give that up for anything, but the choice he was giving her was huge and something that she needed to really think over.

Wade just felt uncomfortable when Harley asked Zoe that question, it seemed to be more of a personal question, the kind of question he shouldn't be involved in. But as he sat there his mind started to wander. He had to wonder just what Zoe had told her father about him. Did Harley know about the bet he had made? That's when Wade quickly glanced around his surroundings to find the fastest escape route just in case he did know.

"I've thought about it and I'm exploring my options and once I know for sure, I'll let you know," she let her dad know. Wade could sense the I-don't-want-to-disappoint-you tone in her voice. He actually felt bad for her about that. No child at any age wanted to disappoint their parents.

"So I hear that you've been a big help with Zoe," Harley stated taking Wade by surprise. "I always thought you two would hit it off and be great friends if you ever happened to meet," he smirked. Wade looked at Zoe the question about the bet in his eyes. Zoe shook her head, letting him know that she hadn't told her father about that, that she didn't want to tell him about it.

"It's easy to be friends with her," Wade replied with a soft smile. "I'm starting to think she's a bigger help to me than I am to her," Wade confessed, not missing the dusty rose colored cheeks Zoe suddenly got.

That was how the rest of their early evening went until it was time for Wade to head on over to his parents house for dinner. Zoe informed her dad that she'd be back and if something came up she'd call him. She wasn't sure if Wade was going to need her after whatever his parents were hiding from him came out in the open or not. But one thing was for certain she didn't want to make it seem like she was abandoning him in his time of need.


	17. Chapter 17

**_I really hope you guys like the little twist when it comes to what's going on with Jackie. Thank you all for still being with me and thank you to anyone that has just started reading this one. Enjoy!_**

 ** _And lastly the poll on my page, remember to vote if you haven't yet._**

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"We've talked about our families, why didn't you ever tell me that Dr. Wilkes was your father? I know things about Ethan, but did you not feel like you could trust me when it came to Harley?" Wade questioned her on the walk to his parent's house. The night was by far too nice out to drive. The first few minutes had been done in quiet but Wade had enough of his own thoughts that he had to voice what he was thinking, it was going to be the only way he would know the answers.

"Because to me he's never been Harley or even Dr. Wilkes, he's always been Dad, a stranger at first but it felt weird to call him anything but dad," she told him. "I really didn't think you guys knew each other. When he left here you were just a kid and if you did know him, I thought for sure that you would've forgotten all about him by now." She was trying to clear up the confusion she may have caused him. Even though she knew her dad was in Bluebell now it didn't mean anything for Wade and her dad to know each other since Wade had barely been home since the season started up and her dad had just moved back home. She figured that they had just missed each other enough to where he wouldn't remember Harley. And because she didn't know where Lavon was going at the time, he had given her his address just in case they ended up somewhere close by and she had forgotten where her dad's house was at.

"Oh," was his only reply.

"It's taken me sometime Wade, but I'm slowly starting to trust you again. It was hard and some days it can still be hard, but I don't want it to be that way, Wade. I want to be able to trust you without a doubt in my mind," she told him, placing her hand on his arm as they walked.

"I am sorry for that, for making you think you have to doubt me," he told her.

"I know you are and I'm over that hurt, it's just the trust issue and you haven't given me a reason on why I shouldn't be able to trust you again since that day. It has to do more with me than you. I've learned a long time ago that those closest to you are the ones that betray your trust. My mom lied to me, Ethan by association lied to me and I thought I had been over that and you came into my life and I thought we were getting close, getting to know each other and you turned out to be like my family and lie to me, that hurt and brought up these issues I thought I had gotten over with, so my trust issues have very little to do with you now," she informed him, letting him in that much more.

"I'm happy to hear that it's getting easier to really trust me and that's something I'm not going to screw up again," he confirmed for her. "But on the other hand I'm sorry that you feel like you can't trust those closest to you and I'll do everything in my power to make sure that you can trust me as our little friendship grows," he smiled.

She didn't say anything, just let her hand slide down his arm their fingers entwining together. For what they had left on their walk to his parent's house they remained quiet and Zoe took in just how amazing Bluebell was. It wasn't making her decision on things any easier. "Are you sure you want me to be with you?" She asked him once they stopped in front of a house.

"Yes," he told her. He wanted her to be there, he needed her to be there. He didn't know what it was he was walking into and having a friend there to support him. "I don't think I could do this without you," he told her in a low voice.

Zoe heard him loud and clear, heard the scared boy in his tone. She squeezed his hand to let him know that she wasn't going anywhere; she'd be there for him. She waited until he was ready to face whatever it was on the other side of the door. She didn't think she could shove him into this and she was fine with waiting until he was ready.

She took a deep breath as he walked to the front door, pushed it open and walked right on in. The smell of sugar cookies was the first thing that she smelled and a small smile graced her face at how at home she felt in a house she had never been too before. Her nerves grew the further they walked into the house.

Wade wasn't just nervous, he was freaked out of his mind on what he was going to find. He stopped dead in his tracks seeing a blond teenager sitting on the couch his parents on the other side of the room. "What's going on?" He asked, breaking his gaze away from the strange girl in his parent's living room to look at his parents. He could easily see the uneasiness on his dad's face and for his mom she looked to be just fine to him.

"We could ask you the same thing," his dad piped up, looking behind Wade to look at Zoe.

"Why don't you and your friend come in and sit down and we'll explain everything," his mom told him. Wade looked back at Zoe. She gave him a small nod and together they sat on the couch, Wade made sure Zoe sat as close as possible to him.

"This is Zoe," he told his parents.

Zoe smiled and said hi to Earl and Jackie. With a tender smile on his mom face and a cocky smirk on Earl's face they greeted her back with a very warm hello. They made sure to look at Wade and he shook his head, he wasn't ready to deal with whatever they had to say about Zoe, he wanted to know what was going on and who the girl sitting on the other end of the couch was.

"This is your half sister, Mary," Earl told his son. It was his mess that got them all into this; the least he could do was come out and tell his youngest son what was going on.

"What?" Wade yelled making a move to stand up only Zoe's hand in his kept him from doing so.

With a heavy sigh Earl went on to explain that the 5 months he wasn't around he was with someone else, Mary's mother to be exact. Wade could remember back to a time when he was younger and his dad wasn't around, he would call and visit him. He didn't know what was going on just that his parents had gotten into a fight and his father had left for a while. He could even remember the times after he came home how he'd leave a week each month, but it became normal as he got older so he never questioned it. And now he knew why he should've asked.

"Mary nothing against you, I'm sure you're a wonderful young lady," Wade started to say; looking from the girl he had to accept as his sister to Zoe. "Know I how you feel about trusting those closest to you," he hissed, sending his anger at his parents.

"Wade," Jackie tried. Wade shook his head. He had heard enough, he just needed time and some space.

"I can't," he seethed, getting up. Zoe got up a tight hold on his hand, she was afraid to let go. She gave his parents a small smile and let Wade pull her from the house.

The walk back to Wade's seemed short in comparison to the walk to his parent's house. She didn't know what to say to him and she doubted she could say anything to him to really help him at this point. She could see that he still needed time to process what he had learned. She was waiting for him to talk.

Wade's thoughts were all over the place. He had a sister and he didn't even know it. He really felt foolish for believing that his father was away on business when he was only 10. He was hurt and betrayed by the two people he had thought told him everything. Even though he saw Mary he couldn't wrap his mind around this whole thing, it seemed so ridiculous.

Walking into his place he dropped Zoe's hand, mumbling for her to make herself feel at home while he headed straight to the fridge pulling a beer out. He twisted the cap off and downed half the bottle. He grabbed one more, walking to the living room and handing Zoe the beer. "I don't have anything else, unless you want water or maybe some orange juice, I think it's good," he told her, sitting extremely close to her. The closer he was to her, the better he felt.

"It's fine," she told him softly, taking the beer. She picked at the label, leaving the cap on. "How are you?" She asked softly.

"Horrible," he replied. "How could they keep something that big from me? It would have been nice to know sooner. I can't even begin to fathom the idea of my dad having an affair. I always thought we were the perfect little family, look how wrong I was," he spat.

"If you ever get answers on why parents refuse to tell you the truth about major things, you can let me know and vice versa," she told him. She couldn't compare what she had gone through to what he was going through because it was different. "Don't we all?" She mumbled, laying her head back. "Why do you think she was there for?" Zoe asked softly, turning to look at him.

"I'm not really sure and I don't care to know at least not now," he informed her. "You hungry? Pizza good with you?"

"Staving and pizza is fine," she agreed, knowing when to drop a topic, he needed some time and she was going to let him have it.

"Beer is shit once it gets hot," he told her grabbing his phone to order pizza. Zoe got up placing the beer back into the fridge; she wasn't that thirsty to begin with. With Wade on the phone, she took a look around his place and smiled at the pictures that Wade had on his walls. Some of her favorites had to do with Wade and Jesse. She was shocked to see a picture of Wade in a blue and white jersey, his right foot resting on a soccer ball.

"That was the year before I started to play football," he said coming up to stand behind her. "I didn't mind the sport but football was a better fit for me."

"You were cute," she told him, cringing at her own words. She didn't feel any better when he chucked behind her.

"At least you're being honest," he told her. She didn't miss the bitterness in his voice.

She turned around, wrapping her arms around him, holding him tight. He was quick to wrap his arm around her, his head lying on top of hers. "I know it doesn't seem like it but it does get better with time," she mumbled into his chest.

"Does it?" He bit out. "Want to see more of the town as we walk to the Rammer Jammer to get the pizza?" He asked.

"Sure," she agreed. For tonight she was going to ignore his little outburst because what he was going through was still fresh and she remembered how hard it was to be happy with news that broke you. She would rather have his outbursts then him bottling it up.


	18. Chapter 18

**This chapter got away from me, the little flashback wasn't suppose to be as long as it turned out to be.**

 **Remember if you haven't yet head on over and vote in the poll on my page.**

 **Enjoy!**

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Zoe woke up the next morning, curled into Wade's side. She tried to keep the thoughts about how she felt like she was at home from invading her mind. She was too scared to look up to see if he was awake, so instead she laid there recalling last night.

 _"I'm happy you're here, Zoe. If you weren't, I'd be a mess," he told her with every ounce of sincerity in him._

 _"Me too," she whispered, resting her hand on his knee._

 _As they had walked to the Rammer Jammer he had pointed things out and made her laugh which in return made him laugh and smile and she really liked seeing him smile. As long as she stayed by Wade's side, the townspeople didn't really bother her much, she could hear them talking about who she was and what her and Wade were at those comments she smiled to herself thinking that maybe one day what they were saying could be true, but for now they were only friends._

 _"Hey big Z," Lavon greeted, wrapping her up in a big hug when Wade had told her he would be right back, she had looked around the place and smiled once she saw one familiar face._

 _"Hey," she smiled, hugging him back._

 _"Is Wade okay?" He asked in a hushed voice, seeing that everyone had eyes on them. Zoe nodded her head, not sure what it was she could tell Lavon. "His mom called me to see if I had talked to him, said he learned something pretty major, do you know anything about that?"_

 _"I do, but it's up to him to tell you," Zoe offered him. "He's good as one can expect, but I'm on it," she assured him. She had no plans on leaving him. She could remember that she wished she had someone she could trust when she had learned about her own father and this seemed to be much worse than that, not only did he learn about his dad's affair but that he had a sister and that couldn't be easy to handle._

 _"Good," Lavon replied with a smile happy to know that someone was going to be there for him. He didn't want to think what Wade would do if he would be left alone._

 _"Doc you ready?" Wade called from the other side of the room. "Lavon," he greeted, not moving from where he was at._ _Zoe hugged Lavon and went to meet up with Wade, all eyes on them. She hated to know how worse it was going to get when the truth between Wade and his family came out and what she was hiding plus when the town found out that she was Harley's daughter._

 _Wade took Zoe a different way showing her a little different side of Bluebell and it seemed like in no time at all they were back at his place, seated on his couch the pizza on the coffee table in front of them, beer once again the drink because Zoe didn't want to take any chances on the orange juice in his fridge._

 _"What do you think?" Wade asked, tossing his crust back in the pizza box._

 _"The town is wonderful, but the people," she paused, thinking her words over carefully._

 _"Can be a bit much but they just care about the people and the town," he said with a shrug, knowing just how much of a heyday they were going to have with his family. She smiled taking a small bite of her pizza._

 _"Are you going to talk to them?" She asked chewing her lip, placing what was left of her slice down. "I'm not saying you have to, but from personal experience the sooner you talk to them the easier it is to get over everything you feel towards them. But I don't know maybe you could at least talk to Mary, I'm sure she feels just as betrayed as you do," she quickly told him._

 _"I can't talk to them, Zo. I need time and I really don't know when I will feel like talking to them about this, I have to get things sorted out in my head first, you know how that is," he told her. She nodded, knowing just what he meant. It had taken her a while to come to terms with things in her family as well. "I can't even begin to think about how Mary feels about this, but I don't know if I can talk to her right now either," he sighed._

 _"Then don't, Wade. No one is going to make you. It can wait until you're ready. Do you think Jesse knows?" Zoe questioned, taking a small sip of her beer that was growing warmer by the second. Wade shrugged his shoulders._

 _"Not sure, but I would like to think that if he did know he would've told me about it, ya know?" He questioned, downing the last half of his beer._

 _"That depends," Zoe started to say. "Are you going to tell him?"_

 _"Shit if I know," Wade tossed out. On one hand it wasn't his job to tell his older brother that he had a little half sister but on the other hand he'd feel pretty betrayed if Jesse knew and didn't tell him. He didn't even know how to slip that into any conversation they were going to have._

 _Not wanting to talk about the sudden turn his life had taken he got up and turned some music on. He didn't give Zoe a choice, just walked over and pulled her up off the couch straight into his arm. Zoe smiled, resting her head against his shoulder as they moved slowly to the music that was playing._

 _The let time pass them by as song after song played, both too content to even bother breaking up their little dance, his hands rested comfortably on her lower back and her arms were wrapped around his neck. Zoe had pulled away to look up at him to ask him something but all trains of thought left when she saw the intense look on his face. Her fingers softly played with the hair on the back of his neck. Her eyes closed, feeling his warm breath mix with hers. His lips were about at their destination when his phone started to ring making them jump back._

 _"Um I should maybe call it a night," she told him, avoiding his gaze. He had already pointed out where everything in his place was at._

 _"Uh yeah, good idea," he commented, quickly cleaning things up._

 _Zoe told him night and quickly went to the guest room. Her mind filled with Wade and their almost kiss. She wanted to be mad at herself for letting herself get so carried away when it came to him, but she couldn't help it. She was falling for him and she couldn't stop it, didn't know if she wanted to stop it._

 _"You asleep?" Wade asked in a whisper, standing in the doorway._

 _"No," she replied, after taking a moment to decide if she wanted to pretend she was sleeping or not. She didn't want to willingly blow him off if he wanted to talk about anything._

 _"I can't sleep," he told her, lying in the bed next to her. "Too much shit on my mind," he sighed, scrubbing at his face. Going against her better judgment she moved closer to him, her head resting on his bare chest, her fingers drawing patterns on his flesh. Neither one saying anything else, to content to ruin what they had going on around them._

"Please don't tell me we have to talk about that almost kiss," Wade said, playing with a strand of her hair, breaking her thoughts away from the night before.

"No," she told him. They had been caught up in the moment and as much as she wanted to kiss him, she couldn't let that happen, not when he was hurting. "But I'm not going to act like it didn't happen or that I didn't want it," she told him, blood rushing to her cheeks. Wade smiled not needing to see her face to know she was blushing when he could feel the heat on his chest.

"Me either," he told her. "Come on and I'll show you my favorite spot and you can fill me in on what Harley was talking about yesterday."

"I don't know what you are talking about," she told him playing dumb, sitting up. He gave her a pointed look.

"Towels are in the hall closet by the bathroom. Use what you need but please put your wet towels in the hamper," he told her. She couldn't hold back the laughter that came spewing out of her mouth at that request. "What?"

"I didn't expect you to be so…"

"Don't finish that statement," he smirked. "I just hate what they can do to the floors," he told her.

"Uh huh, sure," she told him with a giggle. He went to tickle her but she was able to dodge him, getting off the bed, laughing even harder when Wade tumbled to the floor.

"Laugh it up," he mumbled getting up from the floor.

"You okay, other than your bruised ego?" She asked between laughs.

"I'm good," he told her sitting back down on the bed. "Don't use all the hot water either," he informed her. Zoe nodded her head, giving him one more look. "Doc, I'm fine really, nothing's in pain if that's what you're wondering. Ribs are still all good, it was just a little fall, nothing serious," he let her know, knowing that she had switched over to doctor mode. "If you want to do a full exam you can," he winked.

Zoe laughed letting him know that it was okay and she'd take his word for it this once. She spun on her heel and went to take a quick shower, hoping he didn't notice how flushed her face had become. Wade didn't move from the bed until he heard the water turn on. He headed out to the living room to clean up a little more from the night before.

He stopped dead in his tracks going to walk to his room which was past the bathroom and the guest room when Zoe opened the door to the bathroom to see a still wet Zoe showing off more skin then he had ever seen before, the towel leaving very little to his imagination, he wasn't going to needed any hot water for his shower now. He tried to tear his eyes away but he couldn't do it. He swallowed the groan back down.

"Oh," she squeaked out. "I forgot my clothes," she informed him feeling embarrassed making no move to actually move from her spot in the bathroom doorway. Wade nodded his head, words kinda of failing him at the moment, not that he really knew what to say to her right now anyway. With a nervous smile on her flushed face she quickly hurried across the hall to the guest room to get dressed. When she emerged from the room dressed and ready for the day, Wade was in the shower. She walked around trying to find something to do to keep herself busy but she couldn't find anything to do. Instead she stepped outside seeing that her dad wasn't home so she was left with calling him to let him know that everything was good and that she was sorry for just ditching him last night.

"You ready?" Wade asked emerging from the bathroom ready to go. He took in Zoe's appearance wondering how her legs looked so damn long in a pair of tiny shorts.

Zoe nodded her head, feeling a bit uneasy under his gaze. "Where is it you're taking me?" She questioned him.

"You Dr. Hart need a sense of adventure," Wade smirked, checking his pockets to make sure he had everything he was going to need. Zoe rolled her eyes, following him out the door. She was going to show him that she could be adventurous.


	19. Chapter 19

"You could've warned me that we'd be walking through the woods to get to where ever it is you're taking me," Zoe huffed, ducking under a branch that was to big to move out of her way.

"It grew up some since I've been back here last, the path use to be easy," he told her fighting off a laugh at her antics, climbing over a fallen tree. Zoe glared at him standing on the other side of the tree. "What?" He asked trying to hide his amusement.

"I could just turn around now," she threatened.

"But we both know you won't," he smirked, calling her bluff. Zoe spun around ready to march herself right of the woods when Wade caught her hand, sending a warm tingling feeling up her arm and through her body, making her freeze. "Doc, it's not much further and you'll like it and the second you step back into that crazy little town you will get bombarded with questions from the whole town is that what you want?" Wade asked, his thumb rubbing gentle circles on the back of her hand.

"Fine," she relented. "Just help me over this stupid tree," she pleaded with him. Wade smiled and took her other hand in his and helped her climb over the tree.

The rest of the path was fairly clean from branches and trees, the grass was grown up but that wasn't anything major. The idea of hiding away seemed better than going back and dealing with her father because she didn't have any answer to give him. So following Wade seemed like the better choice and she did want to see what this special place of his was.

The last few minutes of the walk was done in silence, their hands still connected as they walked, neither one wanting to let go. "I don't really know what the place looks like these days it has been a while since I've been back here," he started to say coming to a stop. "But it was always a nice little place to stay when there was trouble at home or if I needed time away from everything. I've never brought anyone back here, never had the need to ruin my little place with anyone, but I want to share this with you, Zoe," he told her softly, giving her hand a squeeze.

"Thank you for trusting me with this Wade," she told him softly a smile on her lips. She was happy that Wade trusted her enough to bring her to his special place, that he thought she was special enough to do this for. Maybe those first impressions she had of Wade back on her first day of work were wrong. This was the Wade she liked, the Wade she wished more people were able to see, but she was lucky that she was given this glimpse of the real Wade.

Wade gave her a smile and walked the last few feet. He was thinking the worst, the grass too was a bit on the overgrown side but he could hear the soft crashing of small waves on the little lake nearby, the cabin still stood looking a little less than perfect. But the place was still as good as he remembered it to be.

"Wade this is beautiful," she told him in awe looking around. "We're not like trespassing are we?" She asked him. Wade shook his head. As far as he knew they weren't trespassing, he wasn't entirely sure if the land belonged to anyone or not. When he came across the spot as a kid the cabin was already there and he never came across anyone back here in all the time he spent out here.

Tugging on her hand to make her follow him, he led her over to the little lake, he sighed forgetting to grab a blanket to sit on, he tried to look around see if he could spot something they could sit on but he had no such luck. When he looked back at Zoe to tell her sorry she had already taken her shoes and socks off and was sitting in the sand. Smiling he sat down next to her pulling his own shoes and socks off. He wanted to ask her what Harley was going on about but he was enjoying the comfortable silence that had been created as they looked out over the blue water.

"You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to," he told her finally breaking the silence between them.

"It's okay," she told him, shaking her head and looking at him, resting her head on her knees. "Like Dad said, he's ready to retire and he's always given me the extra push I needed to do what I want and to become the Doctor I wanted to be," she started out, sitting up to move her attention back to the water. "But because he's retiring he wants me to take over his part of the practice. Dr. Breeland wants it to himself, I haven't actually talked to Dr. Breeland face to face yet but I know I have to do that, but I don't know what I want to do. I love my job but at some point I'm going to want to be home more when I have a family, ya know?" She questioned him, never giving him a chance to reply. "Seeing the town rather than stories it hasn't made my choice any easier," she sighed. "I have no idea what I want to. I don't want to sell and let my Dad down, but at the same time I don't want to commit to the practice if it's something I don't think I'll like," she explained. "It's just so frustrating."

"That is major," Wade agreed. The thought of Zoe moving to Bluebell after she had left the field of sports medicine thrilled him. When he retired from the game he was going to be moving back to Bluebell to live and if she was here then the idea of them being together would be easier to happen. "Personally I think that maybe you shouldn't sell it, Zoe. Your father worked really hard to make his half of the practice what it is today and to hand it over willingly to Brick it's kinda like your throwing it back in your dad's face, like you don't care that he worked so hard and it means nothing to you," Wade told her trying to help her see things from a different perspective. "It's always good to have a back up and maybe you can turn your half of the practice into a sports related one, you don't have to be a team to make your dreams come true, Zoe," he told her.

"You're right and that is a good idea," she told him with a smile. "An idea so good, I've talked to George about and he already gave me as much information as he could on it," she informed him, not seeing the look of hurt that had crossed Wade's face.

"So you talked to Tucker about this?" He asked hoping his bitterness towards his friend didn't show.

"I needed to talk to a lawyer about it and not wanting to actually pay an arm and a leg for advice I went to George," she told him, ignoring the jealousy that was radiating off of him.

He couldn't argue with that but he did feel hurt that she couldn't trust him enough to come to him at first. But again he wasn't a lawyer and he didn't know what it was he could've told her if she had. "So does he know all about Harley being your father?" He asked with a low growl.

Zoe couldn't help it, she had to laugh at the way he was acting, she has seen kids act better. "No, he doesn't know. He doesn't even know that the practice I was talking about is the one here in Bluebell. I left the specifics like that out of it. Told him enough but I left plenty of things out. You're the first to one to know everything. And it's not like it matters if I would've told him. I'm not picking him to be my friend over you," she told him, placing a soft hand on his arm.

Wade nodded his head, placing his hand on tops of hers. "You should tell you dad these things Zoe, he would understand," Wade told her.

"Just like you should talk to your parents about what you're going through," she replied with, feeling him tense up under her touch. "When you're ready that is, but don't wait to long, please thinking about talking to them before we leave," she pleaded with him.

"I can do that," he told her with a hint of a promise in his voice.

They grew quiet after that, both lost in their own minds. Zoe was going to talk to both her father and Brick at the same time so that way they were all on the same page. Wade had made a point she knew what she was going to do. She was going to honor what her father had done, but she had to change it so it would fit her. Wade on the other hand, didn't know if he could confront his parents right now. He wasn't ready to hear them out but he knew that it was for the best if he did it now instead of waiting for the problem to solve its self because that was never going to happen.

"I'm going to talk to my dad and Brick over lunch," Zoe informed Wade pulling her socks and shoes back on.

"That's good," he told her following her lead and getting his shoes and socks put back on. "I'm going to try to talk to my parents before its too late," he informed her. Zoe nodded and hugged him.

"You'll be fine and I'm just a quick call away if you need me," she whispered in his ear. Wade nodded, not ready to break the hold he had on her. He needed all the strength he could get from Zoe.


	20. Chapter 20

**This chapter had a life of its own and I felt that I stopped this chapter in the best possible place, just don't be mad at me. I've changed a few details in chapters 15, 16 and 17 when it comes to Harley, nothing too much has changed just what Zoe had told Wade in order for this chapter to work out. Enjoy!**

* * *

"This wouldn't be happening if you would've sold me your half before moving to the city, Harley," Brick hissed.

"And I told you I was going to give my half to my daughter one day, I want my family to control my half of the practice," Harley replied back in a calm manner. "We've been through this, Brick, you told me that you understood where I was coming from," Harley sighed.

"I know," Brick sighed. "But you have to come to the realization that she might not want to work at the practice, she has a job already, and one she's very happy with, Harley. You can't expect her to drop everything going on in her life to come work for you," Brick told him, trying to talk some sense into his long time friend.

"I know," Harley sighed repeating his friend's words. "I know."

This was the conversation going on when Zoe entered her dad's house. Deciding she couldn't hear no more she finally made her presence known. "I think the three of us need to have a little chat," she announced walking into the living room, taking a seat next to her father on the couch. "Taking over what you built dad would be an honor, but I love the work I do and I'm not ready to leave that behind but at the same time I'm willing to come here in the off season to work at the practice, a trial run if you will," she told him.

"I do think we can work with that," Harley said. "And I'm willing to give my part of the practice over to you Brick if things don't work out," Harley said solemnly he didn't want to give his part up but he would because he wasn't going to force his daughter to work there if she had no interest in doing so.

"It don't matter to me, either way," Brick announced standing up. He knew if he argued further they wouldn't get anywhere. He liked Zoe and he was looking forward to working with her, he had put so many hours into the practice when Harley was away that he saw the practice as his and he had to try. And he realized he had to try here as well. "Zoe, it was good to see you again," he said, seeing himself out.

"You as well Brick," Zoe replied sending him a warm smile. She turned back to her father. "I wish that things could be easier on the whole practice front, but I can't just give up what I worked so hard for," she told him.

"I get it and I want you to do what makes you happy, Zoe," Harley told her with a warm smile.

"I've been lying to Wade about everything," she sighed after a few minutes of silence lingered between them.

"About what?" Harley asked carefully. In all the years that he knew his daughter she wasn't one to lie about anything. Now it seemed she had been doing just that to the one person she didn't want to hurt.

"Bluebell," she sighed. She hadn't meant to lie to him about any of it, but it happened and the more she told herself that it was wrong the more she lied to herself. "When he talked about this little town I didn't have the heart to tell him that I've been here before, it was easier to play dumb about the town he called home."

"You have to tell him, Zoe, you can't keep this lie up forever," Harley told her with a hint of sympathy in his voice.

She knew she had to tell him. She didn't want to lie to him or even keep the lie going. Not after the way he had treated her to begin with, now they were friends and she had told him that she had no secrets, but she really did. He was going to hate her and the last thing she wanted to do was add more lies on top of the lie his parents hid from him. She was at a loss on what to do. She didn't want to hurt him but telling him the truth had to be better than keeping this lie going, as it was he questioned her about things and she was starting to forget exactly what it was he had told her. When he talked about Bluebell he would light up and she enjoyed seeing him so happy and she didn't want to say that she knew the town or the people that lived there, she let him go on and on about the town, but now that hole she had dug for herself was starting to close in on her and she was in trouble.

* * *

Wade sat at the table looking at his parents, Mary was still there but they had sent her upstairs to hang out in Jesse's old room which they had turned into for Bianca when she was just a baby. Over the years the room had changed as Bianca grew older. When he showed up he had so many questions to ask but as he sat there he couldn't say anything.

"I know this is a shock to you, Wade," Earl started out running a hand through his hair. "We didn't do this to hurt you, I really didn't know how to bring her into our lives and I thought it would be best if I didn't."

"Why?" He asked looking at his mom. "Why take him back?"

"Because I loved him Wade. We worked things out and yes I was upset that he had another child out there with someone else. But I loved him and I knew that we could fix what was broken between us and I don't once regret making the decision to save what I had with your father, Wade." Bringing up just how upset, mad and even how broken she was when she had learned of Mary wasn't going to do any of them any good.

"I can't wrap my head around this; I can't just forgive either one of you for lying to me for the past 16 years of my life. Does Jesse know?" He asked. He wanted to be okay with this, but he couldn't do that over night. Getting the answers from his parents was something he just wasn't ready for. He couldn't be upset with his mom she was doing what most people put in her place would do. And maybe to an extant he got that but that didn't mean he had to be okay with any of this.

"No and we would like it if you wouldn't tell him. He needs to hear it from us," Earl told him. "This isn't something we could tell him over the phone, Wade."

Wade nodded his head and stood up from the chair he was in and headed upstairs. He couldn't hold his parents lie over Mary. He stood just outside the closed door getting his bearing straight. He had no idea what he could say to her or what he'd have in common with her. He knocked lightly on the door as he pushed it open. He walked into the room seeing that it was okay, he leaned against the desk crossing his feet at his ankles, the palms of his hands planted on the desk behind him.

"School work?" He questioned nodded to the book in her hands. Mary shook her head, Wade nodded.

"You don't have to be here," she told him meekly, gripping her book tighter.

"I want to be though," he told her. "We've both been tossed into a horrible situation," he started to say seeing her shake her head.

"It's horrible yes, but I've known about you and Jesse and even Jackie for years now, my mom kept nothing from me and when I asked where my dad was she told me. I know it's scary for you Wade, but I would like to think that the one good thing from this is that you get an amazing sister," she smirked. Wade laughed.

"That would be great; I'd like to get to know my little sister. You like football?" He asked. He could look past his parents keeping this from him, but he couldn't put the blame on Mary and it might be alright to have a little sister to look out for.

"I've only ever watched to keep tabs on you," she told him. "I wanted to know who you were and frankly I don't like what I've heard." He sighed, pulling the chair out, his elbows resting on his knees as he chin rested on his knuckles. "I don't want to believe what they say, Wade, but it's hard not to," she told him.

"I get it," Wade told her. "As much as I want to deny what you've heard most of it is true. I use to be this arrogant prick that thought it all revolved around me, I thought that I was the team, that I couldn't be replaced. I was wrong there, took an injury to show me that much, but those rumors about the hook ups and the random women, that was never true. I had one girlfriend and things had ended differently for us, we wanted different things and it had to end, but I had never cheated on her or went out in search of a one night stand, those pictures plastered everywhere," he started to explain to her. Some of his actions he had never been fond of but he knew what lines he had never crossed. "They were friends of mine and I learned long ago that despite what you believe say I can have friends that are female," he told her.

"I believe you and I also noticed how much you like that Zoe chick," she smiled. "It's sweet really." She had seen they way he had sat practically on top of her to keep his anger in check, how from a simple touch she was able to reel him in.

"Observant one," he chuckled, seeing no point in denying his feelings for Zoe. Spending the night with her wrapped up in his arms felt amazing, he felt so at peace with himself, a feeling had never felt before in his life. He wanted that kiss with her and he wanted to kiss her again, he enjoyed his time spent with her but he wasn't about to admit to her that he had feelings for her and scare her away, he was happy with being her friend and he was going to prove that she could count on him in more than one way. "If you ever want to come to a game let me know," he told her, scribbling down his number on piece of paper. "Call anytime if you want to talk about anything," he told her walking out of the room. "I'll have Jesse come visit," he told his parents walking out of the house.

"How'd it go?" Zoe asked sitting on his couch waiting for him to return. He stood in the doorway.

"I could ask you the same thing," he smirked. "I couldn't sit there and listen to any more. I'm happy they worked it out but," he sighed.

"It's okay, Wade," she told him, pushing herself off the couch to pull him into a hug and rub soothing circles on his back. When she showed up at his place she told herself that she had to come clean about Bluebell and everything else, but seeing him like this, didn't make that choice any easier. "Things are good but I have to tell you something and I don't know how you're going to handle it," she told him, breaking the hug.

"What is it Zoe?" He questioned, sitting on the arm of his couch as she paced around his living room.

"I've been here before, twice to be exact. You were away at college and practice your first year on the team," she told him then, it felt good to get things off her chest. "When you talked about Bluebell you were happy and I'm sorry I didn't tell you about who my dad was but does that really matter?" She asked, stopping to look at him. "I'm sorry that I lied to you about all of this, but I liked the way you talked about Bluebell, you were more proud of this town then you are when it comes to anything else other than your career and I liked that because it gave me a sense of who you were and I liked seeing this guy who pretended to be someone else show me who he really was."

Wade burst out into a fit of laughter falling off the arm of the couch onto the couch its self. Zoe glared at him because this wasn't funny. "Zo," he said, closing his eyes to keep the laughter away. "You should've told me, I don't get why you didn't maybe it was for me or whatever, but lying about being to this crazy little town isn't that big of a deal and it feels really good to laugh about something," he tried to explain but seeing the indifferent look on her face he realized that he hadn't really gotten through. "I'm honored that you were scared to tell me the truth and you let me have this joy about telling you about where I grew up and not wanting to ruin that but baby we could've laughed at these people together," he told her oblivious to the fact that he had just called her baby.

Zoe on the other hand heard him loud and clear, but decided to ignore him. "As long as your not mad at me for lying to you after everything," she told him, sitting on the edge of the coffee table.

"I'm not mad, I promise. If you think about it, it's not that big of a lie to begin with," he told her, his hands resting on her knees.

Zoe nodded her head feeling herself being pulled towards Wade, her eyes closing. Her nose brushed against his and a second later her lips were on his in a furious kiss. Moments later when he pulled his lips away from hers to nip at her neck she found herself straddling his lap.


	21. Chapter 21

**So the good news is that with my computer off getting fixed, my grandma is letting me use hers for the time being and it's a bit on the slow side of things.**

 **But after this chapter we'll be back to the football aspect of this story. I have roughly estimated that there will be around 14 chapters left for this story.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Zoe removed herself from Wade's lap, quickly replacing her top, where she was and who she was with came to mind when his fingers were gliding over her bare flesh creating a sensation she hasn't felt in sometime. As much as she wanted to continue on she couldn't do that. Wade was frustrated that the situation had gotten that far out of hand so quickly. He liked Zoe a lot and he was starting to regret kissing her. But as he watched her pacing around the living room of his place, her hair tousled from his hands, her lips swollen from his attack, the blush he knew ran under her shirt, he regretted nothing. He liked Zoe and he wanted to know where things could go with her.

"It's natural," he told her getting her to stop mid-step to send him a glare only after a second it softened. "There was nothing wrong with making out Zoe. We're attracted to each other, it was bound to happen," he went on to say. He really didn't want her to feel embarrassed about they had done, they were both responsible for their own actions.

"I know, but," she sighed, moving to sit down next to Wade. "I had made a promise to myself that I wouldn't date anyone from the team and besides I'm the main doctor for the team, it wouldn't be very ethical for us to date, Wade," she told him.

"Okay, I see your concern and we still have months left for this season," he explained, his fingers tangling with hers as he tried to figure out a way for this thing between them to really work out. A secret relationship as fun as it sounded seemed to be too childish for them. "Then we remain friends until after the season, we use this time to get to know each other even better, keep building this thing between us and I promise we'll figure things out when they come to us," he told her.

Zoe thought it over. It would work and they'd have time over the off season to decide if things could work out between them or not. And she would worry about the next season when it got here and she wasn't even sure if she would still be working for the Panthers when the next football season rolled around, she had only signed on for this season. "I can do that," she told him with a tiny smile. "Your ribs seem to be better," she told him, catching a glimpse of their hands still tangled together between them.

"They feel better to," he replied, running his free hand over them. "Does this mean I can be reevaluated?" He questioned with hopefulness in his eyes.

"When we get back," she promised him with a smile.

Wade smirked letting a bit of silence settle over them. "Ya know you never did answer my question about how things went with your dad and Dr. Breeland, before you jumped me," he smirked sending her a wink.

Zoe laughed, shaking her head, feeling her cheeks begin to warm up. "Oh no that was all you," she replied with. "I'll be spending my off season here. It'll be nice to have a little more time with my dad. But the real challenge is going to be what I want when the next season starts, I know I have plenty of time but we'll see," she finished explaining to him, not wanting to get into anything about her future with him just yet since she didn't know and the last thing she wanted to do was say one thing only to go back on her word when it happened to change.

The massive smile he was wearing, it couldn't be ignored and it was there to stay. Hearing that they would be in the same little town, it gave him hope that maybe things would be able to work out between them. That they'd get a real chance after the bad start to to their friendship on his part.

"That's amazing, Zoe. You'll like it here," he told her. Wade took to his thoughts, an idea creating itself in his mind. Seeing the look on his face Zoe went to ask him what he was thinking about but Wade beat her to it "Sports medicine that's your life, right?" He asked. Zoe nodded her head it wasn't until she had started the course work that she realized just how much she loved the field of sports medicine. "And your dad wants you to have his part of the practice, correct?"

"You know he does," she told him. "What are you trying to get it? That in a few months time I have a choice to make? A hard one at that," she questioned him. She was trying to work it out in her mind, but she was confused that it just wasn't making sense.

"No," he told her. "Brick he's a good doctor, he's kept this little town healthy and patched up for years, but we do have sports teams of all ages and I do know that if they got injured it'd be better than taking a trip to Mobile or even Fairhope," he started to explain seeing if Zoe was following him on where his train of thought was going.

"What exactly are you saying?" She questioned, not understanding what he was talking about. Wade said nothing just kept his little cocky smirk firmly in place. He noticed how her eyes lit up a little when she connected the dots. "Do you think they'd let me add sports medicine to the practice?" She questioned him in a soft voice. She had the very same idea in mind, but it was one she never voiced afraid they wouldn't let her do it with her half of the practice.

"Harley loves you, he's done a lot to have you in his life, Zo, I can't imagine him telling you no and ruining your dreams," he told her dead serious, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "And if by chance they don't agree to it, you can always start your own practice around here," he started. He was looking for any reason for her to stay in Bluebell, that way when they did decide to take their friendship to the next level after the season, she wouldn't have a reason to end things with him.

"Valid points but my dad isn't my main concern, he'd do anything to make it happen, it's Brick I'm worried about," Zoe told him. "Besides," she sighed taking her hand from his. "I don't know where life is going to take me before the next season, it's silly to decide something right this second only for it to change drastically in roughly 9 months time," she rattled off.

"Maybe you're right, but having a plan about your future is never a bad thing," he told her with a sigh to himself. His minor injury left him in the dark on what he wanted to do with his life after his football career was over with. Owning his own business would be great, but he had no idea what kind of business he could open in Bluebell and he doubted the town needed another bar. "But if you're so unsure about it, just keep the whole thing in mind."

"I will," she smiled at him. "How was the whole talk with your parents?" She questioned him.

"We went over this," he chuckled, causing Zoe to blush. "But I had a good talk with Mary," he told her, gaining her attention once more.

"Are you going to just sit there with that goofy grin on your face or are you going to tell me how things with Mary went?" She questioned him.

"She's cool, not really sure where she found most the dirt on me at, I know now days there isn't anything out there but the first few months on the team they weren't my proudest moments. Fresh out of college, I used it to my power and the media caught on that I was a bit of a playboy, but I'm not that person, haven't been since that first year," he signed scrubbing his face, stressing that fact to Zoe.

"I know this, I didn't follow your career or anything like that, but it was hard to miss how the media wanted you to look, they didn't care about the charity work you were doing, they wanted the exclusive that made you look like you wanted the fame and not that you liked the game, but that is tabloids and rumors," she told him. "And no I never believed them. And, Wade, I know that's not who you are now, you've grown up and you want things now that you weren't ready for at the age."

"That's good to know and you're right," he smiled. "I've never been a fan on how they twisted everything around, one downside, but other than that I think that things with Mary will be great," he smiled.

"That's amazing, Wade. Yeah but that's in the past now, I don't have random articles popping up about you, other sport stars but not you. You're not that person Wade, you make bad choices but we all do," she told him.

"Is this where you boost my ego? Because it's working but I know other things you could be doing that have the same desired effect," he winked.

Zoe rolled her eyes lightly hitting his arm. She was relieved that things between them were good and the intense kiss they had shared hadn't changed anything.


	22. Chapter 22

**I know it's been a while since I've last updated this story and I am sorry about that, but I got a cold that left me tired, drained and wiped away all my inspiration to write. Over the weekend I had slowly started to work on this chapter and it's not what I had planned on doing and it went in the complete opposite direction, but the next chapter will be what had been planned for this chapter and I do hope you all enjoy this one.**

* * *

Getting back to Charlotte Zoe put all her time into work avoiding Wade as much as she could. Not that it had done much when they had to see each other 5 days out of the week, she still had to tend to him and check his ribs over clearing him to practice with the team again and to make sure that after each practice his ribs were still good. She was amazed with how fast his ribs had healed. She didn't let her feelings that had came to the surface interfere with her work.

Even if every touch twisted her stomach into knots and sent her skin ablaze. It was the little touches that paranoid her. She enjoyed his touches more than she thought she should while at work and she didn't want to get caught by anyone. And that's why she put distance between them.

"I thought you and Wade were all cool," Lavon questioned a few weeks later after they had won their game. He had been keeping an eye on the two of them. On the way back from Bluebell things had seemed to be weird between them but soon enough that had quickly left and it was like they had been best friends since they were kids. But after getting back to Charlotte they spent very little time together and he couldn't figure out why that was, he had assumed that maybe something had happened between them, but he didn't want to jump to any conclusions.

"It's complicated, Lavon," she told him, cleaning up her things. She was tired and she really wanted to head back to the hotel, shower, order room service and sleep.

"Yeah feelings complicate things," he chuckled lightly. She glared at him, placing the strap of her bag on her shoulder.

She opened her mouth to tell him a lie, that she had no idea what he was saying because she had no feelings for Wade, but the lie died on her lips. "Yeah they do," she agreed with a soft sigh. If things were different or if she didn't care about things being ethical she'd dive in to whatever was going on with Wade.

"Hey now," Lavon said, slinging an arm over her shoulders as they walked. "Avoiding him won't do you or him any good, Big Z, you both are miserable, you need to put your romantic feelings aside and be his friend, he needs a friend and you're the only one that knows what happened when we went home," he carefully explained.

"Maybe you're right," she said, being greeted with the flickering of street lamps illuminating the parking lot as they stepped outside. She could suck up her feelings, go to him and be the friend he needed.

"Maybe?" He questioned with a cocky smirk. "Lavon Hayes is always right, Big Z," he chucked softly.

"Go be right elsewhere," she told him with a giggle, gently pushing him, not that he budged.

The drive back to the hotel passed by in a blur for her. Avoiding Wade outside of work was all sorts of wrong but she wouldn't risk her job over a player, even if they did have a strong connection that she never felt before, a connection that scared her because really how well did she really know Wade?

"What are you doing in here?" Zoe asked, seeing Wade on her bed. If it would've been anyone else she would've kicked them out demanding how they had gotten into her room, but with it being Wade, they needed to figure things out. "I figured you'd be off celebrating with the others," she commented placing her things down.

"Didn't really appeal to me, most the guys headed to their rooms, I may have swiped your spare room key card when you not so subtly blew me off this morning," he shrugged.

"Yeah about that," she sighed, sitting next to him on the bed. "I thought I could do this whole thing, be friends with you, do my job and push my feelings for you aside, but I can't because those little touches you sneak in every time you're near me start a fire I can't control," she explained, dropping her head into her hands.

"I get it," he said, placing his hand on her knee. "I feel it too and I've done my share of staying clear of you, but that's just ridiculous after agreeing to be friends," he said with a laugh.

"Avoiding this was easier, but stupid, were grown adults we can remain friends and coworkers," she stated, determined to believe it herself.

"I don't know about that," he mumbled under his breath.

When Zoe went to look at him to question what he had said, she found the warmth of his lips against hers. She was the one to deepen the kiss, needing more.

"We shouldn't," she whispered against his neck, her fingers grasping the hem of his shirt.

"We can stop," Wade mumbled, kissing up her stomach, pushing her top up as he went.

Zoe pulled back, removing herself from his hold. The temptation was still there, it was easy to get lost in the moment and in Wade. "I want to," she told him, getting up to pace the room, "but we can't," she sighed, biting her lip.

Wade got off the bed, stepping in her path to pull her flush against him. "We're two consenting adults we can do as we please, don't worry about anything other than what you want, Zo," he told her. He wasn't going to push her into doing something that she didn't want to do, he would be okay with whatever she wanted. "No one is going to find out."

"I know," she told him taking a deep breath, breathing in a mix of soap and musk. "Having sex with you would be one thing but I'm not ready to complicate things further," she told him.

"I respect that," he replied, placing a soft kiss to the side of her head. "I'll just go," he informed her.

"Stay," she whispered, holding him tighter. Saying no was a problem he was having trouble with as of lately when it came to Zoe.

"Okay," he said, leading over to the bed. Getting under the covers, Wade had found himself being used as Zoe's pillow, his fingers playing in her hair. Everything about them cuddling in bed felt right.

When Zoe woke up, Wade was still sleeping. With a smile on her face she slipped from the bed just wishing that things could be different for them. With one final look to the bed that housed a sleeping Wade, she shut the bathroom door, her head resting against the door for a moment before starting the shower.

Wade woke up, rolling over to pull Zoe closer, he frowned not feeling her presence next to him. He sat up, looking around wondering where Zoe went to. His attention went to the direction of the bathroom hearing the door open,

"Hey," Zoe said, holding the towel around herself tighter. "I uh forgot to grab some clothes," she said blushing.

"The towel look is a really good look for you," he smirked, his mind replaying the first time he had seen her with a towel wrapped around herself in his house.

Zoe rolled her eyes, grabbing her bag, she couldn't figure out why she always forgot her clothes when Wade was around. She was certain with the look on his face and lust in his eyes that his mind had taken on a different aspect and it made her blush. It would be easy to just let the towel drop and let herself get lost in Wade. As fun as that would be, she couldn't do it. "I'll be out in a minute," she told him.

"Actually I'm going to head to my room to shower and change, I'll be back here in a few and we can head out to get some breakfast together," he told her. "That is if you don't have other plans," he tacked on.

"Spending the morning with you wouldn't be the worst thing to do," she winked, stepping back into the bathroom.

Wade chuckled, heading out with the key card he had swiped from her the previous day. He was trying to get his mind off of Zoe when he walked into the room he shared with Lavon, but his goofy grin remained on his face, thinking about a dinner with Zoe was on his mind.

"I don't want to know," Lavon chuckled, putting his phone away, hearing the door to the room open up. With the look on his friends face, it was a look he's seen before and he knew what it meant. The only problem he didn't know who it was with.

"It isn't like that," Wade laughed, pulling a face, digging through his bags. "I stayed with Zoe. We talked and slept that's it," he told his friend.

"I never thought I'd see the day that a woman would make you this happy," Lavon commented. "You were happy before with..."

"I was happy with her, I really thought she was the one," Wade said, cutting his friend off. "But I was wrong, dead wrong and I'm okay with that because Zoe is different and the feelings I have for her they're nothing like what I've felt before and it scares me and yet I want these intense feelings to stay but this whole situation sucks," he sighed, pulling a hand through his hair and down his face.

"The off season will be here before you know it and then you'll be free to do as you please," Lavon told him. "Just hang in there," Lavon said, getting up.

"Yeah, easy for you to say," Wade mumbled heading into the bathroom for a shower.

For a few hours he would forget the feelings he had for Zoe and they would have fun as friends. He could only hope that things between them would get easier for them as time went by.

He wouldn't even think about just how wrong he was about it all.


	23. Chapter 23

**For the life of me I can't make this two do what I need them to do and things took a different turn of events. I don't know how often you can run into an ex in a different state and see them dating the ex of the person you want to be with, but it just worked out that way.**

 **Also I know I said a few chapters back that each chapter moving forward would be a month, but that isn't going to happen, this chapter picks up where the last one left off at.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Over the course of breakfast things with Zoe and Wade were going really good, he filled her on the fact that he wasn't as mad at his parents for keeping such a big thing from him, that he was coming around to accept it and he liked Mary and if he was to pick his sister out he would pick someone as cool as Mary to be his sister. Zoe was happy that he was starting to come around to his family, dealing with something like that wasn't easy but he was taking the high road in making things right with his parents.

They were laughing as they walked around downtown Seattle taking in the sights, their fingers brushing together, neither one of them making the move to entwine their fingers together like they wanted to do. Wade stopped walking feeling Zoe freeze next to him. He looked down at her worried etched into his face, seeing the petite woman next to him looking as if she had spotted a ghost.

"What's going on, Doc?" He asked putting an arm around her, pulling her into his side; he relaxed feeling her wrap an arm around his waist.

"It was nothing, really," she told him barely above a whisper. He had trouble catching the words but somehow he had heard her. "Thought I saw someone," she explained in a louder voice, her eyes searching the area around them, the person she had thought she had seen no longer there. She had to be seeing things, she knew that he had moved to Seattle after she told him no, she couldn't give her dreams up and move across the country to be with him were one of the many reasons she had told him no.

"This person they didn't…" the words dying on his tongue, refusing to believe for a second she had been in any kind of a relationship that could've been abusive.

"No," she told him quickly shaking her head the best she could from where it rested against him. "Just a person," she confirmed, "we saw things two different ways, I just wasn't expecting to see him again, ya know?" She wasn't expecting an answer from him.

"Yeah," he replied, locking his eyes with a pair he hadn't seen in a long time. He blinked a few times, expecting the dull hazel eyes to be gone but he reopened his eyes, and they were closer.

"Wade," she smiled politely at him. He had forgotten that she had returned home after they had broken up.

"Gabby," he replied, his hold on Zoe growing tighter, he really felt like if Zoe wasn't there for him to hold onto he would have ended up on the ground.

"Hey babe," they heard being called. The voice mixed with the sight of the man that joined them, had Zoe shrinking into Wade's side. "Zoe?" The man questioned with big eyes looking at a ghost of his own past.

"Oliver," she replied, feeling her knees start to give out. She was past this, she was past him and it was ridiculous that she felt like this over an ex, when she had turned him down over a year ago. But the love she felt for him, not all of it was going to leave her heart, there was always going to some part of her that was going to love him.

"Small world," Wade mumbled under his breath. It got a small laugh from Zoe.

"How?" Zoe questioned after the initial shock wore off. It was weird to come across their ex's together when they were so busy fighting the attraction they felt for the other one.

"Through friends," Gabby replied, slipping her arm around Oliver's waist. "You two?" She questioned, looking at the embrace they were in, feeling a pang of jealousy over Zoe clinging to Wade.

"Don't matter," Wade responded. What was going on between him and Zoe was for the two of them to figure out, neither one of their ex's needed to know anything. They could speculate all they wanted too.

"This little reunion is wonderful," Zoe started to say thinking about just how awkward it really was, "but we have to go now," she urged, wanting to be anywhere else.

"We have that thing," Wade said, sounding very lame. "Ya know pack our bags and catch a flight back home to the east coast," he elaborated, not caring what ideas he was giving them.

With an even more awkward goodbye, they all headed off in different locations. Wade and Zoe remained quiet as they headed back to the hotel; Wade had walked Zoe to her room, gave her a hint of a smile and headed off.

Zoe sighed, walking around the room picking her things up. Of all the people she could possibly run into her ex was the last the one she would think of. Of course it had to be the ex she had the most history with and it was weird yet to see her ex with the one ex of Wade's that he had been with until most recently. Seeing them together made her question everything with Wade.

Wade walked into the room his head in a fog on the events that just happened. He knew she'd move on and it wasn't that he cared, he was happy for her but that left him feeling a little on the green side of things because he wanted the exact same happiness that she had.

"Someone's in deep thought," Lavon commented, breaking his thoughts away from his ex. "What's on your mind? It's like you saw a ghost," he chuckled.

"Move like two demons, to be exact," Wade told him, shutting his suitcase. Lavon raised an eyebrow ready to hear what happened. "Gabby," he sighed, watching Lavon give him a no shit look on his face. "That wasn't the worst part either, she was with her boyfriend, he used to date Zoe, I have no idea how close they were but the whole situation was weird as hell and awkward."

"Damn dude," Lavon chuckled. He was trying to keep from laughing, but he found this whole thing hilarious. It was serious he could see that and he could see that it was bothering his friend more than it should. "Don't tell me that you still have feelings for her, that you want her back," he commented.

"No," Wade told him shaking his head. "I want what she has, I want that love but I can't have it because of stupid rules," he groaned.

"Welcome to life, Wade. I get this whole thing isn't easy for you or for Zoe, but give it time and everything will work its self out," Lavon told him. Wade shook his head, placing his suitcase by the door.

"You don't know that," Wade told him, placing the strap of his bag over his head to rest on his shoulder, grabbing the handle of his suitcase to head out. He had planned on stopping at Zoe's room before heading to the lobby, but once he was in the elevator that went right out the window seeing just who was behind the doors. "What are you doing here?" He questioned stepping into the elevator.

"I know you're with Zoe, but I have to know." He shook his head, refusing to listen to anything else that she had to say, he wasn't going down this road with her, it was over between them and it was going to stay that way. "I just have to know," she sighed, Wade picking that time to tune back into what she was saying.

"We can't be anything, Gabby," he told her. "We had our time and it was fun but we'd never work out. Do you love Oliver?" Wade asked her. Gabby nodded her head; she loved him more than she had ever loved anyone. "Then be with him and don't worry about the what ifs when it comes to us, because we never would have made it work," he stated, pushing the button for the floor he needed. Being in any relationship was a risk, but he believed that being with Zoe would be a risk worth taking, it had to be.

"Maybe you're right," Gabby told him. "I came here to get answers and I was given the answers I didn't know that I needed to hear. I should've known I can see that there's something special between you and Zoe and it was something that we never had. I'm happy that you're so happy," she told him, letting him get off the elevator.

"Same here," he told her with a smile. "Take care, Gabby," he said walking off on his mission before he spotted Gabby. He was ready to swipe the key card he had for the room when he heard voices.

"Why didn't you want to marry me?" Oliver asked. Hearing that question to know just how serious Zoe had been with her ex pissed him and he couldn't figure out why.

"Because I didn't want that life," she told him. "We've been through this before, Oliver. My answer is never going to change. Marrying you would have been a mistake, I'm happy with where my life is. I needed to pick me and now," she paused running a hand through her hair. Picking herself had been easy at one point but now, things were different. She didn't have anything to prove and she was denying herself that happiness she knew she could have.

"But we could have had it all; we still can if you would just come to your senses, Zoe." That was the last thing that Wade wanted to hear. His anger getting the best of him, he swiped the key card, shoving the door open. He was only seeing red and he punched Oliver, he did have it coming. Zoe was about to question just what Wade thought he was doing, when he pulled her in roughly, his lips attacking hers in a quick fashion. She melted against him, slowing the kiss down, this was her happiness.


	24. Chapter 24

**This chapter was suppose to have Lavon in it, but his part is held off until the next chapter, I liked the place where I ended with this chapter and didn't want to ruin it. This does clear up any confusion that anyone had on why Wade punched Oliver and I do hope that everyone is pleased with the way this chapter ends. Enjoy!**

* * *

Zoe had just finished packing her bags, placing them by the door, going for one final check to make sure she had everything. She had found it hard to stay focused on the task at hand when her thoughts would wander off to Wade. She knew and she hated that it had taken her to see her ex that she could no longer deny what she felt for Wade, it no longer made sense on why she was denying herself something that she really wanted. He had proved that she could trust him again, that he was different than the man he tried to be when she first entered the picture. A smile crossed her face hearing the loud knock on the door. She figured it was Wade, but when she reached the door she was seconded guessing herself not remembering Wade handing over the key card he had swiped from her or seeing it lying around anywhere.

"What are you doing here?" She questioned, feeling the giddiness she felt over the possibility of it being Wade dissolve at the very sight of her ex. Seeing him once in the last handful of hours was more than enough for her.

"To talk without an audience," he said, pushing his way into the room.

"I have nothing to say to you, Oliver," she told him, keeping the door open, hoping he got the point to leave.

"I thought I had moved on from us," he said ignoring Zoe's hint to leave. "I love Gabriella and you make a very small appearance in my life and it's like I can't breath, like my heart is ready to bust out of my chest and everything around me fades away except for you," he explained, sitting on the edge of the bed. "And I hate it because I don't want to feel like this with you, I want that with Gabriella but I don't have it with her and that makes me question myself and the love I have for her and the love I thought I no longer had for you," he finished telling her.

"I'm sorry," Zoe told him with a soft sigh, keeping her distance from him. She thought his words over and that was the same experience she felt with Wade. "It's over between us, Oliver, I don't love you anymore. I can't love you like that anymore, I'm going to care about you and some part of me is always going to love you but you were my first love and that love stays with us, but all you are to me anymore is that, my first love. We can't be anything more," she explained wanting him to see things from where she was coming from.

"Why didn't you want to marry me?" Oliver asked. She sighed, debating whether or not she should answer that question; she's told him multiple times why she couldn't go through with it. Did she want to go down that road once more?

"Because I didn't want that life," she told him, deciding to tell him once again. "We've been through this before, Oliver. My answer is never going to change. Marrying you would have been a mistake, I'm happy with where my life is. I needed to pick me and now," she paused running a hand through her hair. Picking herself had been easy at one point but now, things were different. She didn't have anything to prove and she was denying herself that happiness she knew she could have. Picking herself now had the potential to ruin everything for her.

"But we could have had it all; we still can if you would just come to your senses, Zoe." She shook her head, ready to tell him so, when the door swung open. She watched in slow motion as he stalked into the room, the door shutting with a soft thud behind him. His fists were balled up at his sides and with a blink of an eye; his first was connecting with Oliver's face. She went to question him about his actions, scolded him for being so rude, but his lips warm against hers cut off her thoughts and she melted against him, slowing the kiss down, this was her happiness.

Wade was the one to break the kiss, his forehead resting against hers, his eyes shut, as he collected his breath and thoughts. Zoe kept her eyes closed relishing in the moment.

"How's your hand?" She questioned lightly, her fingers gliding over his knuckles. "Need some ice?"

"It hurts like a bitch, Doc. Ice would be nice if you happen to have any," he commented, quickly kissing her, before pulling away completely.

"I don't, but we can stop at the ice machine on our way out," she told him, lacing her fingers with his.

Together they collected her bags and his and headed out to get ice before making their way to the lobby for Zoe to check out. Neither one took notice to see if Oliver was still there or not, neither one really caring when they were so wrapped up in their own little world.

* * *

"Why did you punch him?" Zoe asked looking from the mass of blue from the window of the plane to where her hand was linked with Wade's. Between leaving the hotel and getting to the airport they had both remained quiet letting themselves take everything in that had played out in her hotel room, giving them the time they needed to let everything soak in and figure out how they wanted to deal with the repercussions it now left for them to face.

"Because he's an ass," Wade mumbled. "Before going to your room, I saw Gabby on her way to see me and she loves him and there he was, not even caring about her, all he wanted was you and he didn't care about anyone else. He pissed me off," he seethed, needing to take a moment to control the anger he felt.

Zoe smiled, squeezing his hand. "It's sweet that you care that much," she told him sweetly. He looked over at her. "You have a history with Gabby and I can't fault you for still caring about her," she told him.

"It's not just about her," he said turning to lock eyes with her once more. "I care about you and what he was trying to do to you, that made me want to do more than punch him," he grumbled. "Dude got what was coming to him," he hissed under his breath. After hearing just how much Gabby loved Oliver it didn't sit right with him the way he was trying to convince Zoe that all she needed in her life was Oliver.

"Were you jealous?" She questioned with a playful smirk.

"I don't know how that feels," he smirked, his thumb moving in slow circles on her hand. "I've never been jealous a day in my life, Doc," he told her with a wink.

"Uh-huh," she retorted, rolling her eyes. "We have to talk about us, Wade," she told him turning their now playful mood into a more serious direction once again.

"What's there to talk about?" He questioned, squeezing her hand. "After the events today I can safely say that we can't go around avoiding each other or pretending that there is nothing between us. We can make this whole thing work out. At work we can be professional and outside of that, you're mine, Doc and I'm yours," he told her, laying it all out there for her. It may have only taken her a few seconds to reply but to Wade it felt like a lifetime where he was freaked out to hear what it was she was going to say.

"You're right, we can do this," she told him. The rest of it would work itself out but she couldn't walk around ignoring her feelings any longer. She wasn't going to let what she had with Wade slip through her fingers. There was no way their relationship was going to affect her work as the team doctor and there was no way it was going to have any effect on Wade's performance on the field.

"You serious?" Wade asked, catching her eyes with his own. "You're not toying with me are ya? You're not going to change your answer after we land and get back into the swing of things?" He quickly asked he wouldn't be able to handle that if she did change her mind on them again. He was all in and he had to be certain that she was as well.

She shook her head. "I'm done pretending and keeping my distance from you afraid that someone might catch on. I want to be with you and I'm sick of denying those feelings. I'm ready to embrace them fully. I'm yours, Wade," she told him with a heart stopping smile. She wasn't going to let anything hold her back. He was right they could be professional at work and outside of the arenas they could do as they pleased on their own personal time. They could handle this.


	25. Chapter 25

_**I apologize for not updating this story in over two weeks, but I started it last week and got stuck with how I saw things in my head for it and I couldn't get them out right and they still weren't what I had in mind but it's something and I hope you all like it. Enjoy!**_

* * *

"I'm happy for you two, for figuring things out, but I still think that you should've waited until after the season," Lavon told them when they had met up to get a bite to eat a few days later after one of the earlier practices. "Not only do we need you on the field, Wade but we need you, Zoe in the medical room, it's not just your lives you're playing with here, but all of us on the team. We can't lose either one of you," he told them going further into his reasoning on why they should have waited until things were clear before deciding to be together. He was happy for them and liked them together, but someone had to make them see the bigger picture that was in front of them.

So far when it came to working they were good and remained as they were, like nothing had changed, afterwards when they were alone things were different and they stopped questioning themselves on why they were really fighting it to begin with.

"Because sometimes it does no good to wait and this relationship is worth it," Wade said, taking her hand in his. He loved the game but there was just something about Zoe that screamed that she was worth risking everything for, something he had yet to feel for anyone else. "I can't put my life on hold for the team, I'm not getting any younger, Lavon and I want what my parents have just better," he told his friend. "The game is it really going to matter in a few years down the road? I love it just as much as you do, but I have a life outside of that field, you get that don't you?" Wade pleaded with him, wanting his friend to see just where he was coming from.

"I get it, Wade," Lavon sighed. "I agree with this thing between you two and at the same time I don't agree with it because it can ruin so much for you guys. I don't doubt that whatever you two have will last for sometime, but what if it doesn't work out, huh? Then you'll be stuck working together and you'll not only be miserable but jealous when someone else shows a hint of interest in the other person and then it will get awkward, you need to see the bigger picture not only today but at any point down the road in every possible way," he tried, wanting them to see some sort of sense to what it was they were doing.

"That's the thing, Lavon. I had only signed on for one season because they weren't certain and as much as I wanted this job even I had my doubts about it actually working out and I've had a lot of fun along the way so far and I've enjoyed my time and I love it but nothing in life is a guarantee and the one thing I'm sure about is being with Wade, there's more jobs out there but how many chances do we get in finding that one person we're made for?" She asked taking sip of her drink. "I'm not saying that things with Wade will go one way or the other but I want to be given the chance to find out, I'm tired of waiting and doing things right, we can't go back on what we've already decided on. No one said you'd be losing us, Lavon. We can work together no matter what goes on between us," she explained, wishing Lavon could see what they had seen.

"If you could walk through life with someone wouldn't you?" Wade asked him.

"Don't we all?" Lavon asked back. The second they said that they were going to stop fighting their feelings for each other, he knew he was in a losing battle with trying to make them see anything else and he was okay with that, they had proven him wrong with defending what they were doing and each other.

"I'm happy that you're worried about us and this situation because it means you care, but only we can decide what's right for us and I truly believe that this is right for us and we'll deal with whatever consequences there are for us dating, we've talked things through, Lavon. And yes waiting would've been ideal, but we can't do that, not anymore," Zoe said, glancing at Wade.

"I can't stop you guys from doing anything, but I had to know if you two were serious or if you were just playing a dangerous game and I can see now that this thing between you is real and I can't wait to see what blossoms for you both," he told them genuinely. "A bit of advice, I'd be up front with everything, if you hide and they all find out, you both could be out of a job and no one would like that," he finished getting up. "I'm happy for you guys, I really am and I can see that you're doing what's best for you in the long run," he said, walking off to leave them alone.

"He's right, we have to talk to the coach and management, we need to be upfront, I don't want to hide this relationship with you, Zoe," Wade told her.

"I don't want to hide what we have either, Wade," she assured him with a smile. "We'll find a time to talk to them all and we'll see where things go from there," she told him. The last thing she wanted to do was hide what they had after all the trouble they had put themselves through over the last few months. "Think we can make it out of this thing okay?" She questioned a bit of worry laced in her voice, something Wade didn't fail to notice.

"Hey now," he told her, pulling her into his embrace, his chin resting on the top of her head. "We're going to be okay, Zoe, no matter what happens when we sit down, it's going to turn out okay and if it doesn't we will be okay because we have each other, okay?" He questioned easing away her worry.

"Okay," she told him, relaxing into his embrace. "You talk to your parent's yet?" She asked ready for a change in topic.

"I don't know what to say to them. I've came to the terms about my father having another child, but I'm still hurt that they felt the need to keep her from me, it's like they didn't trust me, it even feels like they were embarrassed by it all," he sighed.

"You have to talk to them about that, Wade," she told him. "Maybe they were more embarrassed for you because the town is so small that you would get the most backlash from the kids in your class and they didn't want you to go through that, Wade. This was hard for them to do and because they waited so long to tell you it didn't get any easier for them," she explained wanting him to see things a different way, hoping he'd see where it was his parents were coming from. She didn't agree with them about keeping the secret away from their sons and she couldn't change what they did with that piece of information but she could help Wade get over his pain from it all.

"Maybe, but they could've sat me down and told me any time after I graduated high school, heck they could've told me while I was in high school, I would've been able to handle myself with it all. They had so easily kept this from me, what's saying that they can't keep anything else just as big from me. I don't like thinking about what else it is they can keep from me, it's like I've got no trust left for them and I know how lame that is because they're my parents, but I can't help it," he confessed, burying his face into the crook of her neck.

"I know," she told him, running her fingers through his hair. "That's why you need to talk to them, Wade, sort it all out with them; let them know how it makes you feel because I'm certain they don't feel much better than you do."

"Yeah, maybe," he mumbled. "About practice, think I can do a bit more?" He asked smiling against the bare flesh of her neck.

"Don't push your luck, or you will get hurt badly enough that you won't be able to step out on any field ever again," she warned him. She didn't want to have the guilt of letting him push himself to get back on the field before his body was ready for it. And she knew that if something happened to him if she let him do too much too soon that he would end up blaming her for it and those were risks she wasn't going to take. His health was the most important thing to her.

"I guess so," he sighed getting up, pulling Zoe with him. "What do you say we go back to my place and we spend the rest of the day doing nothing," he suggested. Zoe smiled, wrapping her arms around him. It sounded like the best possible way to spend the rest of their day to her and she wasn't going to pass that up for nothing.


	26. Chapter 26

"Jesse, what are you doing here?" Wade asked, entering his house to see his brother on the couch waiting for him.

"We need to talk," Jesse told his little brother. Wade nodded turning to look at Zoe, so much for his day in with his girlfriend, before they ousted themselves to the bosses.

"Bianca why don't we go get some ice cream," Zoe suggested holding her hand out for the little girl that was sitting on the floor to color in coloring books that were on the coffee table.

She looked from Zoe up to her father. Seeing her dad give her a nod that it was okay, she got up and took Zoe's outstretched hand. "Can I get a double chocolate ice cream cone?" She asked, walking to the door with Zoe. "Dad won't ever let me get it, says it's too much chocolate for me," she added on not giving Zoe a chance to respond.

"It'll be our little secret," Zoe told the little girl, earning a massive grin.

"What's going on?" Wade asked after Zoe had left with Bianca. It had been some time since he last heard from his brother.

"Talked to Mom today and she told me that you haven't talked them in weeks, what's going on? Does this have something to do with Zoe?" Older brother asked little brother.

"Nope, this has to do with Mom and Dad. Did she not tell you why I haven't talked them in a while?" He asked, moving to sit on the arm of his couch.

"No just that you guys were fighting. What am I missing?" Jesse asked.

"It's not my place to say. They need to be the ones to tell you," he sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. He couldn't believe that they had yet to tell him about their sister.

"This isn't about Mary is it?" Jesse asked, getting Wade to snap his head up at his brother. "It is," Jesse laughed. "You didn't know about her?" Wade shook his head.

"If you knew about her why didn't you ever tell me about her?" Wade snapped, pissed at his brother.

"Because I wasn't sure what it was," Jesse sighed, placing his head in his hands, looking to be in thought. Wade sat waiting for Jesse to say more but after listening to the seconds tick away from the clock on the wall he was starting to think Jesse wasn't going to say anymore on the topic of how he knew they had sister when know one told him. "I remember Dad leaving all the time and I was curious as hell so one day I followed him to see just what the hell he was up to, and that's when I saw them together. On the drive home I was pissed the more I thought about it and it killed me to know that our father had a different family out there," Jesse sighed finally speaking up.

"Why didn't you ever tell me? A heads up would've been good," Wade huffed feeling his anger over this whole situation come out towards his brother.

"I wanted to tell you, had plans of telling you what was going on, but when I saw you that night with a massive grin on your face for hitting a damn grand slam at little league to win the game, I couldn't do it, I couldn't ruin your happiness, you were already mad at me for missing the game, I couldn't do that to you Wade," Jesse said getting Wade to see things from where he was coming from. "I didn't even have all the facts. I didn't even talk to mom about that shit because I didn't know what she knew, so I kept it to myself for years and I made myself forget I knew anything about it and it worked until she showed up and let the secret out of the bag, but I had years to get over the pain you're now feeling, but dude it's not worth it," Jesse told him.

"I want to be pissed about you for lying to me about your whereabouts for that game," Wade laughed. "Did you ever hookup with Carrieann?" He asked bursting out into laughter once more at the excuse his brother had used.

"Yes, the day before I did," Jesse smirked, shaking his head. "Do you know what hooking up is now, little brother?" Jesse asked with his own laugh.

"It sure isn't just sitting around having a damn staring contest, I can't believe you really thought I would believe that," Wade laughed. "I knew what hooking up meant, just thought I would make you feel uncomfortable for missing my important game," he smirked.

"Sure ya did," Jesse replied, rolling his eyes. "What's going on with you and the team Doctor?" Jesse asked suddenly turning serious.

"Everything," Wade replied, letting his laughter die down. "The way I feel about her is in a way I've never felt about anyone ever and it scares me at times. I'm willing to give everything up to be with her, who in the hell does that?" Wade asked, dropping from the arm of the couch to sit on the couch, his head resting on the back of the couch to look up at the ceiling.

"A pussy whipped soul," Jesse joked, nudging his brother with his arm. "But really it's someone that's in love, Wade. She must be risking her job to be with you as well."

"She is," Wade smiled. "I've only known her for a short amount of time, I can't possible love her and she can't possible love me."

"Wade, we don't need to know someone our whole life to love them. It can happen in any amount of time, little brother," Jesse informed him. "I'm happy that you've moved on from Gabby because for a second there I didn't think you would, but as your older brother I have to know that the trouble you could possible get into for being with Zoe, is it going to be worth it? Do you really not care about getting kicked off the team if it comes down to that?" Jesse asked him. He only wanted the best for his little brother, this time was no different.

"You're just like Lavon," Wade commented. "I love football, but I don't have much time left and who knows what's going to happen in a day let a lone in a year or two. When I look at what's in front of me and what I'm willing to walk away from I pick Zoe over everything because with her I'm not walking away from anything, I'm going towards my future and I feel like if I wait any longer to be with her that it just won't happen. Football has been my life for so long but you know how I was just shoved into it and I was good at it and I enjoy the game, but the more time I have to think about it, the more I realize that I don't enjoy it as much as I did last season, after this season I'm a free agent and I honestly don't know what I'm going to do," he confessed to his brother. Jesse had always been the one person in his life he could tell anything too and Jesse would always help him out the best he could. "It scares me, more than it should, but when I'm with Zoe the fear I have about my future being up in the air, it doesn't exist because with her everything feels like it's going to be okay."

"You really do love her," Jesse commented with a real smile. "You know whatever happens we're all going to have your back. No one ever said that you had to keep playing the game, Wade. Mom and Dad have always been proud of you, Mom just wanted you to get the education that you deserve to have, if you no longer want to play football you are more than allowed to close this chapter in your life and start the next one and if that's with Zoe somewhere else then so be it. If you feel like the game is no longer where you belong then retire, Wade," Jesse told him.

Wade went to reply when Bianca burst through the door, running and jumping straight onto her father in a fit of giggles. "I like Zoe," she said between a fit of giggles.

"I'm sorry," Zoe apologized, shutting the doors. "I didn't know she would be quite like this with that much chocolate ice cream."

"It won't last long," Jesse replied with a small smile.

"Uncle Wade, come push me on the swings," Bianca yelled, jumping from her father's lap to floor, tugging Wade out the door to where the little park around the corner was at.

Zoe headed for the door, ready to say her goodbyes to Wade before heading home. She didn't want to intrude on his time with his brother and niece.

"Zoe wait," Jesse called after her. "Can we talk for a minute?" He asked her. She nodded her head.

"We can talk on the walk to the park, if you want," Zoe suggested. Jesse nodded and followed Zoe out of Wade's place. "What did you want to talk about?"

"You and my brother," he told her. "I talked to Wade and I know where he stands on everything, but I have to ask you the same thing Zoe. I don't know you at all and I want to believe that you being with brother means that you're willing to give everything up to be with him, but are you willing to give up being the team doctor for Wade?" Jesse asked her, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"You know I fought so hard to get this job and when I came in I was determined to make sure I did everything perfect, that I wouldn't get involved with anyone and then your brother happened," she smiled. "He drove me nuts, pissed me off but I got to see the sweet side of him that he keeps hidden from almost everyone. I know it's easy to say I'd walk away from being the team doctor if it meant he could keep playing but I know that it's harder to do that but I'm not going to lie to anyone, I don't know if I could just walk away from what I love," she was saying seeing that he wanted to cut her off, but she wouldn't let him, not until she had said everything that she needed to say. "I don't know if I love your brother quite yet but I know I have strong feelings for him and when I think about my future he easily fits into it. I can't say I'd do one thing over another when it comes to him but I do feel like he's worth the risk, I wouldn't be with him if I didn't think that. But I can't pick a job over a guy and I can't pick a guy over a job and if I have to do that, it will be made with great consideration for everyone involved. I don't want to hurt your brother, Jesse, because I really like him, but I don't know what's going to happen and I don't even want to think about those what ifs yet," she finished telling him, their pace slowing down the closer to the park they had gotten.

"I like that you're honest about that," he smiled. "I get that it can't be easy for you or him, but I can see that you both care about each other, it's just that he told me that he'd be okay leaving the team for you and I gotta know if you'd do the same thing for him."

"This was the job I've wanted for a while now but it's not my dream, Jesse," she told him. "I want to own my own sports practice one day. So if I had to leave so Wade could finish playing for the team, I would do it, it wouldn't be an easy choice to make but if I had to, I would. I feel like I'd do anything for Wade."

"It's really easy to go back on what you say, Zoe after learning what he would do for you. Either you would or you wouldn't give up being the team doctor, which one is it?"

"I know it would be hard, but if I had to do it, I'd find a way to do it for him," she told him with all the determination in her. "That I am sure of," she finished off.

"Why not wait, if you think walking away from this would be that hard?"

"No knows what the future holds and I don't know what would've happened if we did wait until everything would be okay. Timing is key to everything and right now might not be the best time to seek out a relationship with him, but in my gut it feels right and I wouldn't want it to be any other way," she told him, smiling over at Wade.

"That is good to know," Jesse told her with a smile. "I don't want to doubt what you have for my brother, Zoe. I haven't seen him this happy in such a long time; I don't want that to be taken away because you weren't certain in your choice."

"If I wasn't certain with my choice I wouldn't be with him," she let him know, watching as Bianca ran up to them, Wade right behind her.

"Uncle Wade said we can have pizza now, Zoe you have to come with us," Bianca pleaded. Zoe smiled telling the little girl she would love to join them for pizza.

Jesse was holding his daughter's hand as they walked back to Wade's place. Wade and Zoe were following behind them, Wade's arm tossed around Zoe.

"Everything is okay with you and Jesse, right?" Wade asked, unsure of what it was they were talking about when they showed up at the park.

"Everything is good; he just wanted to make sure that I was fully into this relationship with you. He cares and worries about you and I admire that about him," Zoe told him, resting her head against his shoulder as they walked.

Wade smiled, he'd let his brother have that, Jesse was only looking out for him and he couldn't find it in him to be angry with Jesse for doing such a thing.

They ordered pizza and watched whatever shows Bianca wanted to watch, it wasn't the night he had in mind when he had Zoe come back to his place, but it had been a good day regardless of what had went on. Zoe and Jesse seemed to get along and Bianca really adored Zoe, things were good for him, all he had to worry about was what was going to happen tomorrow.

"Don't be to mad at them for keeping the whole Mary thing from you. Even our parents make mistakes and they were more afraid to tell us then we think they were, they don't want to lose you and they feel bad. Forgive them Wade, it'll do everyone some good," Jesse told him, as he left with a sleeping Bianca.

"Should I even ask?" Zoe questioned, cleaning up some.

"He knew about Mary but never said anything to anyone," Wade replied, locking the front door up. "Why don't we head to bed and have our own little fun before shit hits the fan tomorrow," he suggested with a sexy smirk.

"I'd like that," Zoe giggled, placing the plates in the sink. Her giggles grew when Wade picked her up over his shoulder. "Wade!" She laughed. "I could've walked," she told him, smacking his ass.

"I know," he replied, tossing her on the bed. "Doesn't mean I have to let you, though," he said, climbing on the bed to hover above her.


	27. Chapter 27

**_I wasn't quite sure on what kind of consequences that they would face so I went with what went best for them and I do hope that you all are okay with what I did for this chapter, enjoy!_**

* * *

Zoe sat in her office the wall clock ticking in her ear frustrating her, the talk with Lavon and the talk with Jesse the previous day had put a few things in perspective for her. She really thought about what they told her but after thinking about their words for most of the night, it didn't change her view on things with Wade, complicated to an extent but she really believed that being with him was the right thing to do.

Wade had made it through practice doing what he had been allowed to do and for once he was okay with not being as physical as the rest of his team, his mind wasn't in it, instead of focusing on the drills he was doing, his mind was filled with possible what if situations regarding his future with the Panthers. He wasn't ready to give up on his team though, he'd fight to have both, he could play the game and date Zoe and no other lines would be crossed.

"We heard a rumor and we've heard things," Tyler said, when practice was over with. "Upon a closer look, they're not just rumors are they?"

"What are you talking about, dude?" Wade asked, sitting on the bench, his shirt off.

"Wade, we're a team, we don't need to be told things to figure shit out. You've had a thing for the doctor since she walked through the door at the beginning of the season, whatever is going on behind our backs, we support you and if we have to have a petition to keep you and the ever lovely Doctor Hart around we will," Tyler told him, showing his friend and teammate that they'd be supported.

"Thanks guys," Wade retorted smiling, happy that his friends, his team had his back and even Zoe's back if it came down to that.

"She's good for you, Wade," Colton spoke up. "I'm able to call Dr. Hart a friend and I personally think it would be stupid if they decided to fire either one of you, we'd boycott if we thought it would do any good," he laughed being serious. "But either way we're behind you both."

"I think it's tremendous that you would all go to extremes for us, but it's not necessary, the thought you guys put into this is mind blowing especially with the way most of you acted when I first stepped into this place, to have your respect like this, it's great," Zoe said from the doorway of her office, hearing everything that had been said. "Thank you, but I don't want you to risk your jobs by boycotting if things don't go smoothly."

"Dr. Hart is right," Wade announced looking over at his girlfriend. He didn't feel right calling her by her first name, not at work while he was in front of everyone.

"Ya know, we wouldn't be against you calling your girlfriend by her first name," Ayer smirked.

"I know but we need to be professional at work," he retorted. "Why the sudden change of heart?" Wade asked, thinking back to any conversation he had with his friends, he couldn't remember them ever saying they liked having Zoe around.

"Because we got to know her, not as good as you did," Colton joked. "But we like her and once we gave her a fair chance it was easy to see why you liked her. Why she wants to be with you, that's something we'd like to know," he smirked.

"You guys don't need to know why," Zoe smirked right back. "I'm thankful for each of you, that you're willing to stand with us, but I want to know how you figured anything out." She said looking around at the locker room filled with guys.

"We are not stupid," Tyler spoke up, shaking his head. "One day things are weird and tense between you guys, avoiding the other like the plague and the next day, you guys are sharing secret smiles, it wasn't much to really confirm if you guys were more than just friends," he went on to explain.

"But when Lavon started to ask questions about how we would feel in a hypothetical way, the pieces started to smooth out and lock together," Ayer finished taking over for Tyler.

"We then sat down as a team and came to the same conclusion to support our brother and our lovely doctor," Colton ended with.

"We can't thank you enough because we both know how hard of choice it is to make," Wade told them. "We promise that while we are here we'll be professionals and our private life won't be brought into work," he let them know standing up. He needed a shower and he had a very big meeting to get ready for. He felt better knowing that his team, that his brother's had his back, helped him breathe a little easier.

Zoe smiled at the guys, heading back into her office. Hearing the kind words from the guys, gave her hope that things would end on a good note.

"I'm sorry if I overstepped any boundaries by asking the guys how they'd feel about you and Wade, but I had to know that they were okay with it before you tell everyone," Lavon quickly apologized.

"It's fine really, but what if they didn't like the idea of it? What if they were against it? Would it change anything? Their opinion as nice as it is that they're for this, it wouldn't have changed anything with Wade and me," she informed him. Anyone else's opinion on her relationship with Wade it frankly didn't matter to her, because she wanted this and it was her and Wade in this relationship and no one else, she valued their support and what they had to say, but it ultimately came down to what her and Wade thought and what they wanted together, not anyone else.

"I know, but you've been through so much with these guys, I didn't want them thinking less of you," he stressed.

"Thank you, Lavon," she told him with a smile. Her nerves starting to reform throughout her body seeing Wade was ready to go.

"You got this, big Z," Lavon encouraged her.

Whatever happened next, she'd hold her head high, she was proud of who she was and where she was in life. She could do this.

* * *

"I haven't been this nervous since I walked into this place to start work," Zoe commented as she sat next to Wade waiting for them to talk things over. They had went in together and told them what was going on and one had been asked to leave the room as they talked with the other person. It was nerve wracking for sure for both parties involved.

"I don't think I've ever been this nervous," Wade commented, slipping his hand into Zoe's. "But whatever happens we have each other, Zo and that counts for something," he said, bringing their joined hands up to kiss the back of her hand. "We wouldn't be here if our relationship didn't mean something to us."

Zoe smiled hearing his words to assure her that everything was going to be okay. The risks she knew and she still got into the relationship with Wade and she didn't want to believe that they would fire her on the spot for getting involved with Wade nor would they terminate his contract because he was with her, that to her seemed to be a bit far fetched. They would have some sort of punishment for them but she couldn't figure out what it was.

They got up dropping hands when a board member stepped out of the room signaling for them to return. They shared a look walking into the room taking the spots they had vacated minutes prior.

"We've heard from both of you, talked things through. Came up with the best option, we have less than half the season left so terminating contracts." They held their breath when there was a slight pause, both of them thinking the worst, neither one ready to face the reality of walking away. "We feel it would do more harm than do any good, we can't fire you for falling in love so this once we warn you that if anything inappropriate happens on our clock we can and will terminate contracts, we expect you both to be professionals while at work, after hours on your own time, you can do as you wish but if this thing between you two comes back around has any effect on anything from the locker room to the field, actions will be taken." They were informed. "Probation, it seemed like a solution but I trust that you two can act like the professional adults you are, this is the only chance you will be given."

"We understand and while we're here working we are nothing more than coworkers, that will not change, we won't risk our jobs and further more we will not make this franchise looked down upon because of us, no one needs to know about us, our personal life is just that personal and it will stay that way until after the season and we've decided on what move we plan on taking," Zoe said, relieved that things wouldn't be changing, that this was the only chance they would be given and consequences would be dealt with if they couldn't remain professional.

"The doc said it; we will be on our best behavior inside and outside of work. No one will know about is being together, we were friends first and that won't change to the public. Our careers will be put first until the season is over with, and together we will decide what the next step is for us. This was something we didn't take lightly and we thank you for letting this be, for giving us this chance, we won't mess it up," Wade told them, the news that they both still had their jobs still had to sink in fully. It was a chance he would do anything to keep. There was no way he would ruin this.


	28. Chapter 28

_**I feel like I need to let everyone know that I've got two more chapters planned for this one and I've already got a start to both of those. Enjoy this one guys.**_

* * *

It had only been two weeks later and they had been able to remain as they had been at the beginning of the year. They were finding it easy to remain as they had been. Of course they had more than a few loving staring contests, where the guys around them had faded away, those had been easy to play off even if their friends and teammates knew better, they let it slide because it really wasn't having any kind of effect on what it was they were doing. Being coworkers during the day and being the other's world at night had been easier than they had thought it would be, even if the temptation was there.

Zoe had just finished taping up a players hand when Wade walked in, pulling his pads off as he walked to the exam room. Zoe shook her head, her eyes lingering on his upper half that was covered in a light layer of sweat. It was the chuckle she didn't know that broke her ogling away from her boyfriend's chest.

"Keep your hand wrapped up and place some ice on it when you feel its necessary, try not to over do it, though," she told him, clearing her throat. "You should be able to play in the game in just a few days," she smiled at him. He nodded walking quickly out of the room with a small chuckle on his lips.

"Thanks for making that awkward, Doc," Wade laughed, slipping on the exam bed. Zoe rolled her eyes. As easy it would be to put the blame back on Wade for making her get lost in her tempting thoughts when he was shirtless, it was futile as she really needed to control her mind.

"If you didn't want awkward you should have waited until it was all clear not while I was finishing up with a patient," she told him, walking over to him, her fingers going to move along his ribs, seeing if she could feel anything before using the machine to see how they had healed so far. "Have you been feeling any pain or discomfort when you've been on the field practicing?" She questioned, her fingers linger over his skin for a few extra minutes.

"Nope," he replied with a smirk. "Haven't felt any pain or discomfort practicing on the field or in bed," he husked out in a very low whisper watching her cheeks flush a deep crimson color. He wouldn't do anything to get her in trouble at work, but teasing her and a little light flirting he felt as if it was okay to do so.

"Lay down," she told him, not missing the look he had gave her. She ignored it getting what she needed moved to the right place. For now she would let his little comment slide, she couldn't do much about the words that came out of his mouth. Seeing everything she needed to see, she turned back to him. "Why don't you go shower and get dressed and then we'll go over if you can play again or not," she told him, getting the machine put away. "I would join you," she smirked, looking over her shoulder, "But duty calls," she winked walking to her office.

"You are evil, Doc" he laughed walking out and to his locker. The game was great and he missed playing with his fellow teammates, hated watching from the side, but over the last couple of weeks he had started to enjoy just watching the game, getting pulled into what was going on on the field but he was itching to be back on the field to play with his friends, he was starting to smell the gold at the finish line. "Give it to me straight, Doc," Wade stated, falling into the chair across from Zoe.

Not able to keep a straight face in front of him, she looked up at him with a smile on her face. "You're looking good," she told him, a light blush coming to her face the second she realized just how that sounded. Wade cockily smirked, leaning back in his chair. "Not like that," she back tracked with a grimace, shaking her head. Wade sat there amused with his girlfriend, a soft chuckle coming out. "Not like that either," she cringed, taking a deep breath. "Wade, I see no reason why you can't go back to regular training tomorrow with the rest of the team," she finally got out.

"If I understand correctly," he smirked, leaning forward. "I'm good enough to play but I'm not good looking?" He questioned, his smirk only grew seeing the blood quickly cover Zoe's face. "Good to know that you're not into me just for my looks," he said glancing to the clock before getting up and walking around the desk, pulling Zoe up, his left hand resting on her hip, his right hand, cupping her cheek.

"Shut up," she muttered, her hands resting against his chest, the thumping rhythm of his heart beating against her palms. "I didn't mean it that way and you know it," she tacked on, looking deep into his eyes, letting herself get lost in the depths of his orbs.

"Do I?" He whispered, lightly brushing his lips against hers.

"Mmhmm," was her reply, her hands slowly moving from his chest to wrap around his neck.

"Can't you like I don't know go to your own place for that?" Lavon chuckled, shaking his head as he walked past Zoe's office.

"He's right," Zoe told him, pulling away from Wade. It had only been a little kiss, but it was easy to lose herself in Wade and they may not be on the clock any longer but they were still at work.

"Yeah," Wade agreed, moving away from Zoe. "I'll meet you at your place, anything in particular that you want me to grab on my way to your house?" Wade asked, moving to the door of the office.

Zoe lightly shook her head, "Whatever you feel like getting will be good with me," she told him, putting his file back together. Wade nodded his head and left. Zoe frowned after him, something wasn't sitting right when it came to Wade and she couldn't figure out what it was, he had been in good spirits the whole time until the end, but he really couldn't be upset about calling an end to what they were up to in her office, it was one of the lines that they couldn't cross. She tired to push the thoughts from her mind as she put her things away so she could go home and change before Wade showed up.

Wade tossed his bag into his car with a sigh, only to lean against the side of it. He closed his eyes. He felt stupid for the way he had acted in Zoe's office. He had stepped over a line and he didn't like it. He respected the heck out of what Zoe did and he was old enough to hold back and not cross any lines and here he was crossing the stupid line. It shouldn't matter that it was after work or not, they were still in her office and he wouldn't be the reason that she had to leave working there. He could control himself, but in his defense it was just a small kiss that may have resulted into more if it wouldn't have been for Lavon.

"I thought you were leaving?" Zoe questioned coming to stand in front of him, her hand reaching for his. He smiled, pulling her close, his arms wrapping around her waist.

"I was until I realized that we stayed at my place last night and we came to work together," he smiled down at her, as that realization had just dawned on her.

"Right," she laughed. "Couldn't leave your girlfriend stranded," she beamed up at him.

"Something like that," he stated, bending down to capture her lips with his own. Kissing her in the parking lot didn't make him feel guilty at all; the parking lot was a safe place for him to get lost in Zoe, in their own little world. "How about we go back to your place and I'll find something in your fridge for us to eat," he suggested breaking their lip lock, his forehead resting upon hers.

"I'm okay with that if you really think you can find something edible in my fridge," she laughed. "I think I have something from a few days ago that could still be good," she told him her thoughts. Wade chuckled, pulling her around the car. "You are okay right?" She questioned as he pulled the car door open for her. "It's just that you seemed really bummed back there when Lavon interrupted our little moment," she tacked on not giving him the chance to reply until now.

"I'm good, it's just with the teasing and everything I let myself forget and that's on me for doing such a foolish thing, I know it was after hours but we could've gotten caught and that's the last thing I want, no matter how much I really want you," he stressed.

"I get it, Wade," she told him, placing a small kiss to the corner of his mouth.

* * *

Wade was busy digging through Zoe's fridge trying to find something to go with the burgers he was making, but he kept coming up empty. He was tempted to have Zoe watch the burgers as they fried to head to the little store around the corner to get a bag of fries but the very idea of seeing the place up in flames when he came back was enough to scratch that idea, he'd rather settle for the bag of peas that had been sitting in her freezer longer than he cared to know.

"You really need to go to the store and get groceries for your place, if we're going to keep spending nights here," Wade commented, shutting the fridge door when he heard Zoe walk out of her room. "What's with the bags?" He questioned, stealing a glance at his girlfriend, stepping over to the stove to flip the burgers.

"My dad needs me," she told him keeping her tears in. "He's been sick for a few days and he's getting worse and somehow he broke his wrist. The stubborn old coot refused to call me or anyone for help, but Brick called to let me know what was going on and I need to be there. I've gotten everything taken care of here for work," she quickly filled him. "Just be careful on the field tomorrow when you practice with the team and if you have any pain or discomfort afterwards, please don't push yourself and go back to limiting what you do at practice and talk to one of the doctors there about it," she pleaded with him.

"I will," he told her, turning the stove off. "You need a ride to the airport?" He questioned, feeling disappointed that she was leaving but he got why she was going and he hoped that Harley was going to be okay.

"Yeah, when it's time, I've got a couple hours to spare before I need to be at the airport and I'm starving," she told him.

"Doc you are in luck," he smirked. "And I will do as you say, don't you worry about me, Zo, you focus on your dad, okay?" She nodded her head, placing her bags by the door.

They ate and talked, Wade doing every thing in his power to keep a smile on his girlfriend's face. They shared a few laughs as they cleaned up the kitchen together. She had given him her key so he could get her mail and just keep an eye on her place for her while she was away.

"You don't have to wait with me," she commented, refusing to move her head from where it rested against his chest.

"I beg to differ," he chuckled, rubbing her back in soft circles. "If you need to stay at my place, you can," he told her, digging the key for his place in Bluebell from his pocket. She smiled, kissing his cheek, playing with the key in her hand.

"I love you," she told him with a dazzling smile, her eyes connecting with his. He easily closed the small gap between them, bringing his lips down against her soft ones, pouring the love he felt for her into the kiss.

"I love you, Zoe," he whispered against her lips, cherishing this moment before she had to walk away from him.


	29. Chapter 29

She had only been in town for a handful of days. She started off with staying with her father, as that was why she was in town for, to keep an eye on him and take care of him when he needed it, but he was a stubborn old man and convinced Zoe that he didn't need her help. But she stayed close just in case, she didn't like seeing him sick or even injured but she knew enough to let him do things at his own pace giving him the assurance that she was there if he needed the help. Somehow over the days she found herself staying more at Wade's place. It had started out when he'd call her to see how Harley was doing and because he was missing Zoe like mad. He had tried to get away but couldn't find any time where he could escape to come and visit. He had told her the first time he talked to her on the phone that it made more sense if she just moved into his place, that he wanted her there everyday, that when he gave her the key to his place and professed his love to her that he was okay with it and that he wanted her to be at his place, to know that she was at home waiting on him. She didn't give him a straight answer on if she was going to move into his house while she was there or not. She wanted to surprise him if he was ever able to came home while she was there.

Leaving the team behind was hard, but it had only been a stepping stone on what she had really wanted in life. She missed it all and she wished that she could be there for the last few games of the regular season, but when her dad got sick and injured Brick called her worried and there was only one thing that she could do, she took the time off, making sure that someone was able to fill in for her while she was away, no matter how much she was convinced they would be just fine without her she worried they wouldn't be able to fill the hole created when she took off. She had plans of being back the second the team had their first playoff game, there was no way she would miss those games, playoff season was her favorite part of football season.

"I'm not having this fight again," she sighed, sitting across from her dad.

"Then don't," Harley told her, shaking his head. "I'm fine," he said being his stubborn old self.

"No, you're not, dad," Zoe told him with a light sigh. "You have more than a cold and it's not the flu, you're a doctor you know this better than I do, you need to go in, Dad," she begged him. "I can't lose you now. Whether you go in or not, it's not going to change."

"I know," he sighed, closing his eyes. Going in to get it confirmed was bad enough.

"You're a doctor, you're not suppose to be afraid of the hospital," she told him amused helping him up. "How is the wrist today?" She asked him.

"Pain in my damn ass," he grumbled. "I'm not afraid of the hospital, more like terrified of what they're going to find out," he said under his breath. "And not every doctor knows what they're doing," he stated. Zoe sighed trying to keep her composure, because he had been into see the doctor once and he couldn't figure out what was going with her dad, Brick didn't know either and Harley couldn't exactly diagnose himself.

"They should be able to catch it in time, dad. Plenty of people beat it, there's no difference here," she told him, helping him outside to her car. "We need to stay positive about this," she stated in a very demanding tone. She stopped by the car when she heard her father start to laugh. She looked at him like he had just gone crazy. They weren't dealing with a laughing situation, it was serious and she was taking it that way. She found no humor in what they were dealing with. "I don't find any of this funny," she told him with a very serious face, pulling the car door open for her father.

"I know," he said getting his laughter under control. "This situation is very serious, but sweetie we don't even know what's going on, it could just be a virus that I'm having a harder time getting rid of because of my age, doesn't mean I have cancer and it doesn't help that I've been acting like a spoiled little brat," he chuckled with a small cough.

Walking around the car she smiled and let a smile laugh out. It was still serious because she had no idea what was going on with her dad and that scared her greatly, because she wasn't ready to lose him quite yet, but he made a very valid point, they didn't know what was going on and she was jumping to the worst possible thing she could think of. She needed to relax and stay calm until they had the facts laid out for them. "You're right," she said starting the car. "Let's go figure out what's going on before we jump to conclusions and I might need to pull your ear to make you listen," she joked, backing out of the driveway.

* * *

"Zoe is going to be pissed," Lavon laughed, sitting down next to his friend. Wade was quick to shake his head.

"No she won't," Wade argued back. She'd be worried and maybe a tad upset that he got injured but she wouldn't be pissed, she knew that injuries were going to happen on the field, she was the team doctor after all.

"What makes you think that?" Lavon questioned him. He enjoyed riling his friends up, especially Wade because it was so easy to do such a thing.

"She's not going to find out," he threatened Lavon and that only made the man laugh harder because they both knew Zoe would find out. "I'm serious, she's got enough going on with her dad, she still can't convince Harley to go in and see what's wrong, I can't add my shit onto her plate as well," he explained with a sigh, dropping his head to his hands.

"I get that you don't want to worry her, but she's your girlfriend, you love her and whether you tell her or not, she's going to find out and she's going to pissed at you that you didn't tell her and she had to find out from someone that wasn't you," Lavon reasoned with him.

"I can't exactly call her up and say hey Doc I bruised my ribs the very same ribs that had just healed from being broken and I'm going to be missing the first playoff game," he said rolling his eyes.

"Maybe not," Lavon chuckled, "but you'll figure it out, you have to. Video chat with her or maybe go back home, you not only need to talk to Zoe about this but you need to have a chat with your family because that whole can of drama is still messing with you. You don't need to be here and our first playoff game isn't for another two weeks and by then she's going to know because she's going to be back and she'll see your medical file because that's something you can't hide from her," Lavon told him standing up.

"Yeah, maybe you're right," Wade said giving in to what he was being told. He didn't want to keep his injury from Zoe, he couldn't lie to her either, he didn't want to lie or keep things from her, she was the type of person that deserved the truth from him but it was more of the fact that he didn't want to make her worry when she had enough to deal with when it came to her father.

With his mind made up he got up and got his things together. With this injury not as serious as the first one he would've been able to stay and practice but because he had just came back from his broken rib injury and was able to play a few games they were going to be extra cautious with him, giving him the chance to go home for the week and see where he was sitting when Sunday rolled around, not that they had a game that day. But telling Zoe in person would be better for the both of them.

"Wade what are you doing here?" Zoe asked when Wade had entered the house, dropping the bag he had by the front door as he pushed it shut, reaching behind him to lock it.

"I could ask you the same thing doc," he smirked. "We need to talk," he told her, watching as her face paled at those words, he cringed at the look that had overtaken his girlfriend's face figuring out he had said the wrong four words to her. He sat down by her, taking her hand in his own, his fingers drawing little circles to the back of her hand. "I can't play until the second game of the playoffs when we make it that far," he started to say. "I did everything you told me to do and in the last game we had a few days ago I took a hit wrong figured I was okay because nothing hurt, the doctor checked me over and I was good, but at practice this morning I took a normal hit and my side was filled with intense pain, I was checked over and I happened to bruise my ribs," he got out, refusing to look away from her brown eyes.

"You're fine and accidents happen," she told him, cupping his face with her free hand. "You're okay that's what matters," she whispered.

"Yeah it is," he told her, his hand tangling in her brown locks, pulling her face close to his. "I love you," was the last words he said as his lips met hers in a much needed kiss.

Zoe laughed breaking the kiss hearing the timer going off. "Hungry?" She asked getting up, pulling him with her. "It's not much just something Lemon brought over earlier today, I followed her directions on how to bake it," she informed him.

"You know me, Doc, I can always eat," he smiled, lightly pushing Zoe to the cupboard with the plates as he took the dish of food from the oven. "It does smell good," he commented, dishing some food onto the plates Zoe was holding.

"That it does," she agreed, taking the plates to the table as Wade got them silverware and something to drink.

"Did you get Harley to the hospital to find out what's wrong with him?" He questioned swallowing the bite of food he had in his mouth. He raised an eyebrow when Zoe broke out into a small laughing fit. "What I miss?"

"Nothing," she told him shaking her head. "We jumped to conclusions when we shouldn't have and he said himself that he was acting like a spoiled brat," she filled him, seeing Wade crack a smile. "But they're not entirely sure what's going on, they ran a bunch of tests and we go back in a few days to find out the results. They ruled out most of the more dangerous things," she informed him. "It's just a waiting game from this point," she sighed.

"That's good that it's not a life threatening thing," he commented, Zoe shook her head. "Don't even think like that Zoe, whatever it is he will be okay," he tried to assure her.

"You don't know that and it could be a bunch of things yet, one life threatening thing after another," she sighed, dropping her fork on her plate, no longer hungry.

"Zoe," he sighed, pulling her hand to him, both of his hands holding onto hers. "I see you finally took my advice in staying here," he smirked. She smiled happy that he had changed the topic of conversation.

"Sometimes it was nice to be here alone especially with a sick and injured father that refused help from anyone, it was a nice escape to be surround by you," she told him a blush creeping over her face.

"Was that suppose to be sweet?" He questioned with a smirk. "Because it sounded awfully creepy and stalkerish," he finished with a straight face. Pulling her hand free she quickly smacked him in the arm. "Must I go have Bill write up a restraining order against you?" He questioned.

"What's going to happen when you're done for the season?" She asked ignoring his joke. "I ask because spending a few nights out of the week together is great, but even though we love each other, I just don't think we're ready to be living together yet," she rattled off.

"Honestly I haven't really thought about it," he told her, leaning forward his forearms resting against the edge of the table. Any moment now their season could be over with, he was confident that his team would make it to the Super bowl but anything could happen out on the gridiron. "We can always find you a nice little place to rent that is if you're really serious about living here." He wasn't going to assume she would be moving to Bluebell, it was one of the few things they hadn't talked about out of their own fear.

"I had planned on spending the summer months with my father, so yeah I'm going to be here, but after that I have to figure out what I want to do. Do I want to go back to being the team doctor next year? Or do I want to work on opening my own practice specializing in sports medicine?" She questioned with a sigh.

"I can't answer that because I don't know what's best for you, only you know," he told her. "But why can't you do both? Why does it have to be one or the other?" He asked.

"Because it's hard to do both, they both need my full attention. I have to pick on or the other," she told him.

"Then we'll figure it out together," he promised her. "Why don't you go over and check on your father and I'll clean up and when you get back we'll crash and watch a movie, okay?"

"Now that's something I can do, but it's my turn to pick the movie since you made me sit through 7 seasons of your favorite show," she warned him.

"You were into it, you laughed a lot and cried more than once while watching the show," he tossed right back. "Besides it was a badass show, there was doctor stuff in it," here smirked.

"How can you not cry when you follow the dude for 7 seasons only for the dude to off himself in the end, that's not a very happy ending," she protested. "Yeah a psychotic doctor by the end which was a little understanding, considering."

"Babe, not everything has a happy ending and he had to do it for his sons," Wade said, pulling her into his arms for a hug. "Just like she was trying to do."

"I know it was the ultimate sacrifice. That doesn't mean I have to like the ending," she replied, pulling away. Wade smiled tenderly kissing her soft velvety lips.

Harley was already sleeping when Zoe made it over to check on him. She did clean up after him, when he felt good enough to actually move around by himself. She didn't like to leave him alone but with the way he had been acting she needed the escape. But she shouldn't feel bad as she was nearly always there to check on him. Some days he'd be fine and the next he could hardly get out of bed.

"How was he?" Wade asked, getting everything set up. All that needed to done was for Zoe to pick out the movie.

"He was sleeping so I just cleaned up a little. Figured I'd go over in the morning and see how he's feeling and then maybe together we can see if there's anywhere to rent," she suggested.

"Now that sounds like a plan," he smiled. "Which movie?" She smirked, slipping her shoes off. "You're going to make me watch Dirty Dancing again, aren't you?" He questioned with a small groan.

"You do love me," she commented with a shrug.

"Yeah I do," he smiled, getting the movie ready.

Zoe smiled snuggling into his side when he joined her on the couch, ready for a relaxing night in with the man she loved.

* * *

Over the next week Wade had to head back to Charlotte, but before he had left he had helped Zoe try to find a place to rent in Bluebell, but out of the few places she did see there was nothing that she had liked. She had tried to keep an open mind about each place but they just weren't the place for her and for now that was okay because she still had time and if she had too she could always stay with her dad liked she had planned until she found a place to rent.

"What did the doctor have to say?" Zoe asked when her father joined her in the waiting room of the hospital.

"Out of everything that could be wrong we were off because it's nothing serious," he informed her, sitting down next to her. She turned to look at him curious to know what was wrong with her father. "Turns out the new medication they had put me on, was wrecking havoc on me, so I've been taken off of it. That's why when I was too sick to take my medicine I'd be fine later in the day." Zoe shook her head, tossing her arms around her father, happy to know that nothing was wrong with him and it was as simple as change him back to his old medicine.

"That is such a relief," she said with a smile. Now that she knew nothing major was wrong with her dad she would be able to go back to work feeling better about leaving him, she loved her dad and spending the last couple of weeks with him had been fun even if he was sick for the most part of it, but she missed work. "They say anything about the wrist?"

"No, I didn't even ask, I do know a thing or two about broken bones, Zoe," Harley smirked, getting up. "Why don't we get something to eat and spent the afternoon together before you jump on a plane and hightail it out of here," he suggested.

"Think you're up to that?" She asked him. They may have found the problem to why he was getting sick, but it was still going to take a few days for him to be totally fine.

"I know I am," he stated, turning on his heel and walking from the waiting room, making Zoe easily catch up to him.

* * *

After getting back to work the days quickly passed her by. She had a lot that she needed to catch up on from when she was gone, needing to go over the files of each player, making sure that each player that had been in to see the doctor while she was way was good to go for the playoff game in just a short few days. Each person that had been injured from any point in the year she had seen wanting to go over their injury to see how the player was doing and how the injury was healing up.

Playoff games came and went, each one more intense than the previous one knowing that each game won meant they were that much closer to making it to the Super bowl, the one game every person on every team wanted to be at and not only that it was the game they all wanted to win, to hold the Lombardi trophy saying that they had the best team in the league that year, to leave their mark in football history.

Wade had been cleared to play again and he was on a roll out there on the field looking better than ever, that didn't mean that Zoe didn't flinch every time his body had connected with another body on the opposing team, her breath always held until he was on his feet back in the huddle with his teammates.

Zoe found that the most nerve wrecking game so far had been the NFC _(National Football Conference)_ championship game, to name what team would be heading to the Super Bowl to go against the team that had won the AFC _(American Football Conference)_. They had put the victory in and it was one heck of a celebration that night before they had to get serious and focus on what was going to be the hardest game they would be playing all year around.

Wade and Zoe had shared low key dates together relaxing from the training sessions that Wade was putting in, he was by far too tired to do much of anything other than stay in and Zoe was okay with that because she knew how important the Super bowl was to him, what she didn't like was how he kept pushing himself harder than he had the previous day, she warned him daily to slow down and he was only going to hurt himself in the long run, her words just never seemed to register in his head and it had been frustrating for her. She didn't want to see him injury himself before the big game was able to come around. But he had heard his girlfriend and slowed down his own workout more for her than it was for him because he had quickly came to realize that there wasn't anything he wouldn't do for Zoe.

The day they had been waiting for, the day they had counted down too, the game they had been playing for was upon them and spirits were high in the locker room. It was easy to get caught up in the happy and excited feeling as it floated around the room with a hint of nervousness mixed in. Everything they had done all year had came down to this one game, they had 4 quarters to play and their season would be over and they were going to take that trophy with them, they were the best team in the League.

The first half of the game had gone in their favor; they were up by two touchdowns. Zoe found herself busy during halftime tending to some of the players they had gotten hurt during the first half, none were serious and after a good wrap job they would be good to play the second half.

"You're ribs feeling okay?" Zoe asked when Wade stepped into her office. Even though his ribs were healed from both injuries, she kept a close eye on them at all times of the day even when they were at one of their places; it was the doctor in her wanting her boyfriend to healthy.

"They're fine, I'm fine," he told her. "You doing okay?"

Zoe laughed rolling her eyes. "I'm not the one out there on the field with a bunch of guys trying to knock me down, you are," she reminded him.

"How can I forget that," he chuckled. "I'm good really, ready to get this game over with so I can celebrate this win in style with my sexy doctor," he winked walking from the office leaving a red-faced Zoe behind.

The second half of the game started off good but for Zoe it had quickly became a nightmare. Wade had the ball but he had been tackled hard, his helmet coming off and he wasn't getting up. She was scared but she had a job to do, she had to figure what was wrong with Wade.

* * *

 **Wow, when I started this chapter I wasn't expecting it to be this long, but it all just came out, I actually had another scene for this chapter planned out, but I couldn't find the right place for that to fit in at. I do however feel that the last part of this story is a bit rushed, but I couldn't get it out the way I had planned it to go in my head.**

 **I'm really sorry to leave you all with this kind of a cliff hanger but I had plans of getting the final chapter up on Friday for all of you but I realized I'm not going to be home long enough on Friday to finish writing the chapter, I will try my hardest to get this story wrapped for you all on Monday as my weekend is busy as well and I'm not going to have time to write, so I'm really sorry about that.**

 **I used what my grandma had gone through for Harley when they changed her to a different kind of medication and I really liked that even though he's a doctor he's not very found of being the patient. And kudos to anyone that figured out that the show Wade and Zoe are going on about is _Sons of Anarchy._ I love that show and I've been re-watching it at night when I have a spare second to do so.**

 **Anyway I do hope that you all enjoyed this chapter.**


	30. Chapter 30

**Major Thank you to everyone that has reviewed, followed, favorited and just simply read this story. It was a fun story to write, but sadly this is the end of this one. I do hope you all like the way this one ends.**

 **On a small side note I know I'm good at posting a new story when I finish one, but with summer coming up and it being a hectic summer at that, I'm not going to have as much time to write as I normally do so I'm only going to have one or two stories going and right now I really just want to get _Prison Blues _ and _A Beginning to End_ finished before I post anymore stories.**

 **Once again thank you and enjoy!**

* * *

A ghost of a smile crossed his face when he walked up the steps to his childhood home, hearing the goodhearted bickering that was going on between his parents that had filtered out through the open windows. In the 8 months since he's been home he's been around to talk things out with his parents to help him forgive them for keeping such a huge thing from him. It had been easy to forgive Jesse for not telling him anything about Mary, Jesse was his brother and it wasn't his place to tell him and ruin the only image he had of his parents at any given time. The more Wade thought about it the more he realized that he wasn't upset with his parent's for not telling him about Mary, but he was just mad at the situation itself. He liked Mary, talked to her a couple times a week, he wanted to know his sister and in doing so he had moved on from the anger he felt for his parents.

"It's always wonderful to see you, son, but we weren't expecting you to stop in today considering the plans you told us about yesterday when you and Zoe were over for dinner," Earl said, spotting his youngest before he even entered the house.

"Brick needed to see Zoe at the practice, Harley and Lavon have most everything under control and what they don't then Lemon and AB have the rest under control, I'm just on keep Zoe occupied until tonight duty," he told them.

"Then we won't keep ya from your duties," Jackie told him with a smile. "Did you need something?" She asked getting to the point.

"You guys were talking about wanting Mary to come stay over during winter break but you weren't sure but I think it would be great, it doesn't matter what anyone in this town thinks of this situation with Mary. Everyone that needs a say has already said their peace and have come to the conclusion that they are okay with this and that it's not the end of the world. You both are happy, I have evidence of that when I walked up here, Jesse is fine with it and it's taken me sometime to really come around to the idea of it all but I love Mary like the sister she is and I think it would do all of us some good if she spent the summer with us," he explained to them.

"We're happy that you're on board with this, because we talked about it some more this morning and we decided that we want her to come here for winter break and then again in the summer, she's been asking to spend time here and I'm really tired of telling her no and hiding her from everyone. I'm not ashamed of her, I hate how she came about but there is nothing I can do about that because it's in the past," Earl stated.

"In that case I can't wait to spend some time with her," he smiled, "I should get back to town in case Zoe starts to look for me," he told his parents walking out the door.

He was halfway back to town when Lavon sent him a text message telling me to get the football field ASAP! He had made it to the field not seeing Zoe yet. He sat on the sideline reflecting on the game he still loved and wished he could still play.

She smiled looking up at the practice. She didn't think they'd do it, told them they didn't have to that she would sell the part of the practice that was left to her so she could open her practice dealing with sports medicine in town. She loved working for the Panthers, working with the team was wonderful and an experience that she would never forget, but it wasn't for her, she wanted her own practice and now she had that and it was wonderful. It had taken a lot of her thoughts over the off season on what she was going to do and the more time she spent working at the practice the more she realized just what her dreams were and the possibility of it being within reach was right there and she had to go for it, she was thankful for her time as the Panthers team doctor, but looking at the practice that's what made her all giddy and it was all worth it.

* * *

"This practice has been part of your father for years and as much as I would love to have it to myself, I could never do that to him or you. Zoe, you being here it's a magical time for us all. You know things so you can help out when I can't be in plus with sports medicine being the doctor you are it made more sense to add you here then to make you open elsewhere in town," Brick told her, coming to stand by her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "This is for you as much as it for the town."

"Thank you, Brick," she told him with a watery smile. "Where is my father? He wasn't at his place when I left Wade's this morning."

"Unfortunately, I don't know where he's at. He didn't have plans today?" He questioned the woman that had easily become like another daughter to him over the past 8 months.

Zoe shook her head. If he did have plans he hadn't told her about them when they had lunch the previous day. Living in a small town had been weird for her to adjust to at first, but it took a very few short days before she was enjoying the little town of Bluebell, it really felt like home, a feeling she didn't even know she wanted until it had hit her in the gut.

"Who ya looking for?" She smiled, matching his stride, his now smaller ones to stay in step with her at a leisurely pace.

"My dad," she told him. "Have you seen him, Mayor Lavon?" She questioned with a smile, lightly bumping into him. She still found it a little amusing that he retired from football and came home to become the Mayor to fill the void that had been created.

"Can't say I have, Dr. Hart," he chuckled, as they entered the Rammer Jammer.

"Now my father and my boyfriend are missing," she stated, her eyes searching through the few people that were there eating a second time to only come up empty handed.

"Wade might be at the field," Lavon suggested.

Zoe nodded her head. "I was going to check there next. I know he still misses the game, but I'm sure you know more about that than I do," she smiled, turning to face him.

"Yeah," Lavon replied, not needing to explain how it was. How for the first few days after training camp started he felt like he should've been there doing drills and working out the rust that had settled in during the off-season, not going back had left a void in his life and at first he wasn't sure what he was going to do to fill the void he had created until the election of Mayor came up and he ran on a whim needing to do something and much to his surprise he had won. "But he did what he thought was right," Lavon commented.

"I know, but seeing him so down sometimes, it's hard to handle because I want him to be happy," she sighed. "I'm going to go find him and maybe he's seen my dad. I'll catch you later," she told him, pulling him in for a hug.

"Alright and Big Z, and remember dinner at my place tonight," he reminded her.

"As if I could forget that," she laughed, walking out of the Rammer Jammer, her next destination the high school football field. She smiled at the people that she had passed along the way, refusing to stop and make small talk like she normally did, she was on a mission and she didn't need to be slowed down in getting to the field. "Thought you'd be here," she said, coming to stand next to Wade who was sitting on the sideline.

"I didn't even know I was coming here," he said, pushing himself up to stand next to his girlfriend. "I didn't think I would miss the game as much as I do. I know that walking away was for the best. It needed to happen," he said with a pause, running a hand through his hair. "I love being the coach for the varsity team for CLJJ high, but it's not the same," he explained in a vague manner.

"I can't say that I understand what it is you're going through, but I do know that I'm here for you," she told him.

"I know, Zoe," Wade told her, tugging her close, his chin resting against the top of her head. They had sat down together and talked things through. He had walked away from the Super Bowl with a concussion and Zoe hated to be the one with the bad news because she wanted to see him happy. She had advised him that he should hang his pads up because the next concussion he got would be a career ending one and it was best that he walk away on his own terms then to be forced out because of an injury he could have prevented. Even though Wade valued Zoe's opinion needless to say he had to be for sure and he ended up going to a 5 different doctors around the state, all of them telling him the same fate Zoe had told him. "What I have here is pretty great so I can't complain. I have the kids to help them play better, I do enjoy the work I do at the Rammer Jammer, Wally is going to let me buy him out when he's ready to sell, I have my family, even Jesse is thinking about moving back with his family, not to mention I have the hottest girlfriend whose moving in with me in the state of Alabama," he smirked.

"Wait!" She exclaimed, moving back to lock her eyes with his. "Since when is this girlfriend of yours moving in with you? And why didn't she know?" She questioned with a smile coming out, an eyebrow raised.

"We've been dating for almost a year now, we're only two weeks away from our one year anniversary, you spend most nights at my place anyways, I want you to move in with me Zoe, if that's okay with you," he said, entwining his fingers with hers.

"I'd like that, but what about Lavon?" She questioned, holding her giggles in when he groaned at her question. "He was kind enough to let me move into the carriage house after he won."

"If you'd rather live there, I can always move into the gate house across the pond," he smirked. "Lavon is going to be fine, Zoe. If you don't feel ready to live with me yet, I'm okay with that, but just tell me and don't use our friends as an excuse," he told her, a hint of anger seeping out.

"That's not it all, Wade," she told him, shaking her head. "I want to move in with you, it does make more sense since the carriage house is basically being used as storage for my things these days. I can be fully moved in by the end of the day, I just don't want to hurt Lavon's feelings in the process of it, so we need to tell him gently," she quickly explained to him. He relaxed drawing her close, his lips crashing against hers in a slow and heated kiss.

"Everything is looking good," Lavon stated entering his house. Harley stopped what he was doing to look at the Mayor. "Zoe's looking for you, not sure what for but I told her I didn't know where you were at, but there are only so many places to hide in this town," he chuckled, looking around his place that had seemed to turn into party central.

"Where is she?" Harley asked. "I'd hate to see the town flattened because she couldn't find me," he laughed.

"With Wade at the field, I made sure he was there before sending Zoe his way," he filled Harley in. "Thanks for the help here."

"Nonsense, it is for my daughter's birthday, the least I can do is help set up," he dismissed walking out of the Mayor's house.

He walked up to the field a smile on his lips as he watched his daughter and his future son-in-law goofing off on the field a football laying forgotten about. He couldn't have picked a better man for his daughter to spend the rest of her life with than the one who happened to have his arms around her, their laughter reaching his own ears. He sat on the bleachers not wanting to disturb them quite yet; he let his mind wander to the day that Wade had burst into his office to talk to him.

 _"Harley, I want you to know that I love your daughter and I can't guarantee anything, I can say that I won't ever hurt her on purpose, we're going to fight I can't stop that from happening and we're both going to say things we don't mean and I'll hurt her at some point, but I do promise you that I'll fix it always, that I'm not going anywhere, I want her to be happy and if at some point she's no longer happy with me I will let her go," Wade told the man before him, finally dropping to the chair in front of the desk._

 _"I have no doubt about any of that Wade," Harley told him. "I've watched you grow up and you're a good guy Wade and you deserve to be happy, to have all the happiness in the world. And I appreciate you coming in here and telling me these things, I just don't understand why," he told the young man before him._

 _"Because I don't want you to hear this from anyone else at any point in time, I wanted to come to you first and run it past you," Wade told him, his nerves finally starting to kick in. He went to pace around the room once more but decided against it and dropped back into the chair. "I love your daughter and I do see a life with her and I want you to know at a later date in time I will be back to ask you if I can have your daughter's hand in marriage when the time is right, but for now, just know that I'm going to ask her to move in with me," he told his girlfriend's father a nervous smile sitting firmly on his lips._

 _"I'll be waiting for you to come back to ask for her hand, this gives me time to really think about things," he chuckled. "Just don't mess up before then and if you come in here asking my permission to marry her in a way to fix things with her I will not give you my blessing, Wade. Marriage isn't about fixing what's broken, it's about you two bringing your lives together in love and I expect you to ask her out of love and not desperation," Harley told him in strict voice to get his point across._

 _"I would never ask Zoe to marry me to fix any problem, that wouldn't fix what was wrong that would only put it off for a little longer," Wade told him. "I assure you when I ask your daughter to marry me it will be from a place of love and admiration for your daughter."_

 _"Okay and Wade, I don't have much say in whether my daughter can move in with you or not, she's not a kid any longer, but thank you for coming here and talking to me about everything," Harley told him._

 _"I know, but I wanted you to know and thank you for not shutting me down," Wade told him with a small laugh getting up._

 _"I still have time to deny you my blessing," Harley semi joked with a chuckle._

"Where have you been?" Zoe asked, bringing her father out of his memories.

"Around," Harley replied back with a smile.

"Uh okay," Zoe told him, shaking her head. Something was up with her dad, something he didn't want her to know about and she wasn't sure if she wanted to push him on the topic or not.

"Why don't you and your dad catch up and I'll get your things moved into our place," Wade suggested, needing for Zoe to stay clear of Lavon's until later in the day.

She was going to argue with Wade but she couldn't blow her dad off, the very one she had been looking for since she had gotten up this morning. "Don't ruin or break any of my stuff and leave it when you get all of it to our home so I can put it away, I have a system that doesn't involve just tossing it in the corner or the closet calling it good," she told him with a faint smile.

"My system has worked just fine for me until you waltzed into my life," he smirked.

"Yeah okay, you keep telling yourself that," she replied.

"I will," he said, bending down to capture her lips in quick lingering kiss, not wanting to get too caught up in a kiss with Harley sitting right there.

Zoe and Harley walked from the field back to his place where he fixed some tea for the two of them and they sat outside on the porch swing, where they talked sharing a few laughs.

"How hard was it for you to convince Brick into letting me have my own part of the practice that was just mine?" She questioned, sitting her empty cup on the little table next to the swing.

"I didn't, he came to me with the idea. He said it made much more sense to do it that way. The whole top of the practice is yours," Harley shared with her. "You do like it don't you?" Harley asked then.

This she knew when she took a little tour of her new part of the practice that was all hers. The window in her office overlooked the town square; there was a little waiting room outside her office and exam room, even her own reception desk, she didn't have a receptionist yet but that wasn't going to slow her down, she was still debating on if she need her own receptionist.

"I love it, I just thought with how he was earlier that you would have to twist his arm into doing something like this, but I guess he's not all bad," Zoe smiled.

"No he's not," Harley chuckled, getting up. "I don't mean to rush ya off, but I have something to do this afternoon," he told her. Zoe frowned getting up.

"What do you have to do?" She asked very bit curious as to why her dad was kicking her out.

"Nothing for you to worry about," he told her. "Your worry should be over at your new place now that Wade is back," he told her.

"Alright," Zoe told him, walking down the steps, checking to make sure that no cars were coming before crossing the road. She wanted to stay and question her father about what was going on, but the thought of Wade putting her things the way he put his own things made her want to go home, she'd talk to her dad later when he was ready to tell her what was going on. "Put the box down and step away from it," she ordered stepping into the house.

Wade laughed, setting the box down. "I didn't hurt any of it and I believe that I have it all, it not we can go back together and make sure," he told her walking away from the boxes. "We'll go once you're done unpacking," Wade called out to her as he walked into the kitchen to get a beer.

Zoe quickly got busy getting her things unpacked to make Wade's home into their home. It hadn't taken very long to get her things put away, she smiled when she opened a closet in Wade's room to see that it was empty for her and that he had moved a dresser into the room for her to use. He had even made room for her things in the bathroom. She had noticed how easily her towels had fit in with those of Wade's, it was the little things that made her smile as she unpacked and put things were they belonged. Anything that needed to put up on the walls she had Wade do it telling him the general area in where she wanted it to be at.

"I still don't understand why you didn't tell me when your birthday was when we were friends this time last year," he commented as they walked wrapped around each other to Lavon's for the dinner that Zoe thinks they were having at his place after they had stopped off at the carriage house so Zoe could look around and double check that Wade had gotten all of her stuff.

"Because it wasn't a big deal," she told him. "It's not like you told me when your birthday was either," she countered with.

"That may be true, but you read my file and knew just about everything about me, personal shit included and my birthday was in that file, so you didn't have to ask me anything," he retorted with a smug smirk on his face.

"But I shouldn't have to look it up, Wade. You should've told me or I should've asked you, either way we're both at fault here," she finished with, hugging him closer.

"We've got plenty of time to work on telling each other little things," he promised, dropping a kiss to her head as they walked up to Lavon's place. She smiled at his little gesture.

"SURPRISE!" Was being yelled the second Wade had pulled the door open.

"Is all of this for me?" Zoe asked looking around to see her family and friends along with some friendly faces from town.

"Yeah, doc, it's all for you, it's your birthday party mixed with an official welcome to Bluebell party, since you didn't get one," Wade told her with small chuckle.

She was home and for the first time in what felt like ever she felt like she had a real home, with a guy that she hadn't been so sure about in the beginning, but here she was with him, who was a completely different person than he had tried to make her believe he was over a year ago and she was mighty happy that she had given him that second chance because a life without Wade would be a rather dull one. This was where she was meant to be, she could see that now.


End file.
